Canada has a new food guide that is stirring up the food industry.
Designed without industry input, the guide emphasizes a balance of food types and suggests turning to plant-based protein when possible. In addition to food specifics, the guide also encourages an awareness of culture and the importance of cooking and eating with others. The food guide is getting some push back, especially from ranchers concerned about its encouragement to reduce meat eating, but vegan restaurant owners are encouraged by the new edition.
Canada’s food guide
The release of Canada’s latest food guide may surprise some traditionalists. The new version is the first revision since 2007. It represents a shift from four food groups to three guidelines regarding “what to eat regularly, what to avoid, and the importance of cooking and preparing meals at home.” In addition, guidelines encourage eating with others and recognizing that cultural food traditions can also support healthy eating.
Health Canada prepared the guide without food industry input. The guidelines are based on scientific research and went so far as to exclude “industry-commissioned reports” out of concern for conflicts. Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor stressed the need for accessibility stating, “Canadians deserve an easy simple source of advice they know they can trust.” She also emphasized that good nutrition “doesn’t need to be complicated” and, in fact, can even be “fun.”
Brazil’s food guide was an inspiration to Health Canada officials who found that Brazil’s “cornerstone” is “fresh, unprocessed foods.” University of Montreal nutrition professor Claude Moubarac was an advisor on that guide. He notes that Canada’s update introduces the “context of eating” and “goes way beyond just nutrients and food and really adopts this much more holistic approach, which is much more appropriate.”
Health Canada is continuing its work by preparing information for those serving food in institutional settings with an awareness of age groups and life stages. In addition, new food labeling is required within three years that specifies more specifically such details as for how much “processed sugar content” is in a food product. By adding such information, consumers can more easily identify packaged foods that fit the guidelines’ emphasis.
Beef industry responds
For many in the food industry who have long benefited from sales of products that do not fit the guidelines, the food guide is rather unwelcome. In the case of ranchers, the concern is the encouragement to reduce meat as a protein source. Alberta Beef Producers and the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, two industry organizations representing ranchers and others in the beef sector, are focusing on the positive aspects of raising and eating beef.
Tom Lynch-Staunton has spokesperson roles with both Alberta Beef Producers and the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association. He takes the stance that the benefits of meat are ignored by the report and points out that beef is “packed full of nutrients.” He emphasizes that those concerned about fat content switch to leaner beef and encourages healthy proportions of beef combined with other foods. Lynch-Staunton also maintains that the majority of cows eat grass-based foods and food from pastures helping keep grasslands intact.
While such statements can lead to disagreements from different camps, it should be noted that the food guide does not encourage eliminating meat rather it supports increasing plant-based forms of protein. To the beef industry, this approach is obviously a call to buy less of their product. To the growing ranks of vegan restaurants, the food guide is an encouragement.
Encouraging for vegans
Though Canada’s new food guide does not specifically encourage vegetarian or vegan diets, it does raise mainstream awareness of the validity of plant-based protein. It also helps undermine the image of “plant-based dieting…as an elitist way of life,” according to Dalhousie University professor Sylvain Charlebois. But that perception has not stopped the Canadian government from supporting further plant-based food industry developments.
Recently the federal government awarded $153 million to Protein Industries Canada (PIC), a group composed of many sectors all trying to build the plant-based food sector in Canada. PIC CEO Bill Greuel believes Canada has the chance to become a leader in the global shift to plant protein. As he points out, meeting the world’s protein needs with only meat is unsustainable. He also maintains that Canada can make a shift from exporting raw commodities to processing plant foods for higher-value exports.
For Calgary, the possibilities are also visible in the restaurant and grocery industries. In the city nicknamed “Cowtown,” vegan restaurants are a growing phenomenon and even mainstream chains are exploring such products as meat-like foods that are plant-based. A wider range of vegan products is available in grocery stores. Interestingly enough, it is believed that there are less than a million total vegans in Canada. However accurate the figures, the reality is that many are reducing meat consumption and enjoying vegan dishes without having to become vegans.
Meat still on the menu
Though no industry would be happy with a report that suggested consumers buy less of its products, meat producers should appreciate the fact that meat is still on the menu. And even if other products are growing in popularity, the worldwide hunger for meat suggests the market potential for Canadian exports. From a national perspective, the food guide is not an attack on meat so much as an encouragement to explore foods that will ultimately give different sectors of the food industry a boost.