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For Immediate
Release:
Agriculture Ministers Deny Canadian Consumers
Vegetable Oil-Based Alternatives to Dairy Products
VOIC
Requests Ministers to Meet Outstanding Agreement on Internal Trade Commitments
At July 8th Meeting in Winnipeg
July 7, 2003
(Toronto, ON) – The Vegetable Oil Industry of Canada (VOIC),
representing canola growers across Canada, oilseed processors and manufacturers
of oilseed-based food products, such as canola-based margarines and cooking
oils, this week called upon the Federal and Provincial Ministers of Agriculture
to complete long overdue commitments to eliminate regulations that discriminate
against vegetable oil-based alternatives to dairy products.
“Current nutrition recommendations support the reduction
of saturated “animal-based” fat and its substitution with polyunsaturated
and monounsaturated “plant-based” fats found in vegetable oils such as
canola based products. Yet, the
marketing of vegetable-oil based alternative foods is seriously hampered by
differing provincial regulations that were to have been eliminated almost six
years ago under the Agreement on Internal Trade,” said Ernie Doerksen of the
Canadian Canola Growers Association, a member of VOIC.
Under the Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT), agriculture
ministers committed to harmonize margarine standards and standards regarding
dairy blends (mixtures of butter and margarine) and vegetable oil-based
alternatives to dairy products by September 1, 1997 but have failed to do so in
the almost six years that have elapsed since the deadline.
In addition, Ministers were to have reviewed the scope and coverage of
the Agriculture Chapter of the AIT by September 1, 1997, but have repeatedly
deferred that commitment.
It is well known that dietary consumption of saturated fat
increases the risk of developing heart disease. Members of VOIC have presented Ministers in advance of their
July 8th annual meeting in Winnipeg with a study from Finland
that demonstrates the significance of changes in the choice of spread from high
to low-in-saturated fat products and the impact on the rate of death due to
coronary heart disease. In 1972, 90
per cent of those studied used butter on bread and the corresponding rate of
death from coronary heart disease was 671 persons per 100,000. In
1992, 20 per cent used butter, with the majority using low-fat spreads,
margarine and blends with a corresponding rate of death from coronary heart
disease of 324 per 100,000, a decline of more than 50 per cent.
Results
of a Harvard University Study conducted in the 1970s and 1980s, focusing on
90,000 women and 50,000 men and subsequently verified by a 1989 National Academy
of Sciences report, found that the incidence of heart disease was strongly
influenced by the type of dietary fat consumed.
Consumption of plant-based polyunsaturates and monounsaturates decreased
the risk while consumption of saturated fat increased the risk.
According to Health
Canada, cardiovascular disease results in $7.3 billion in direct costs and $16.9
billion in indirect costs per year in Canada. Recently, the Minister of Health, the Honourable Anne
McLellan observed that “…the consequences of poor dietary habits are
significant, not only for individual Canadians’ health, but also for the
welfare of the health system itself…. The
economic burden of a poor diet alone is estimated to be $6.3 billion annually in
Canada, including direct health care costs of $1.8 billion.”
Eliminating regulatory discrimination against vegetable
oil-based alternative foods would also address the needs of the 20 per cent of
Canadians who are dairy-intolerant. Up
to 95 percent of adult Asians are dairy-intolerant, 74 percent of First Nations
People, 70 percent of the black community, and 15 percent of Caucasians. As
indicated by the recently released 2001 census data, visible minorities -- two
thirds of whom are Chinese, South Asian and black – now comprise 13.44 per
cent of the population compared to 11.21 per cent in 1996. Hence, Canada’s dairy-intolerant sub-population is becoming
increasingly significant as a percentage of the total population.
“Ministers of
Agriculture are strongly encouraged to address commitments under the AIT that
will improve the health of Canadians, reduce health care costs to treat
diet-related illnesses, particularly cardiovascular disease, and address the
needs of the increasingly large dairy intolerant population in Canada,” added
Doerksen.
In a letter to Industry Minister Allan Rock, the Federal Agriculture
Minister, Lyle Vanclief, states that the objective of the Federal government’s
Agriculture Policy Framework (APF) is to make Canada a world leader in food
safety, innovation and environmentally responsible production.
Yet, the APF is silent on the elimination of internal trade barriers to
develop the domestic market.
“Simply meeting
outstanding commitments, under the AIT, would strengthen the domestic
value-added food industry, allowing it to realize national economies of scale,
which, in turn, would lead to healthful product innovations and enhanced
international competitiveness”, said Doerksen.
In a letter of June
30, 2003 to Ministers, VOIC has asked Ministers to commit to the immediate
implementation of all outstanding obligations under the Agriculture chapter of
the Agreement on Internal Trade.
VOIC
(Vegetable Oil Industry of Canada) is an industry group representing 75,000
oilseed growers across Canada, oilseed processors and suppliers of fats and oils
to the food industry, and makers of oilseed-based food products, such as
margarine, cooking oil, salad dressing, mayonnaise and dessert toppings.
Members include the Canadian Canola Growers
Association, the Canadian Oilseed
Processors Association, Archer Daniel
Midland Agri-Industries Ltd., Bunge Canada,
Canbra Foods, Cargill
Limited, AarhusKarlshamn US and Canada, Loders
Croklaan, Unilever Canada and Rich
Products Corporation.
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For Information:
FACT
SHEET
Vegetable Oil
Industry of Canada (VOIC)
416-214-1232
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