Health Canada launches campaign to help shoppers understand food labels

TORONTO, Ont. – Health Canada says 93 per cent of Canadians read nutrition labels on food items while shopping, but the information is often confusing and leads to difficulty while comparing items.

As a result, the federal government in conjunction with the food industry, is launching a campaign which aims to help Canadians understand exactly what the information is telling us.

Under the new campaign, messages will be put on the labels, which in turn will direct consumers to Health Canada’s web site. There, they list the per cent daily value of everything from fat and sodium, to vitamins and minerals, in order to show consumers how much is too much or not enough of each ingredient.

680News visited a Loblaws store on Queens Quay and found that most shoppers were squinting to read the white chart on the side of every box, bag or can, looking as if they were cramming for an exam while scanning the ingredients. People said they were checking for a range of ingredients, including fat and trans-fat content, sugar content, fibre content, fillers, preservatives, and calories.

“I quite honestly just don’t know the measurement sizes, I don’t know what portion it’s referring to. I do find that confusing,” said Carl, saying that comparing products is much like deciphering code.

“Finding how many calories are per serving, or volume […] I find a lot of that tough to wait through.”

“A lot of the times I find that kind of cumbersome to do” added Tonya, standing in the cereal aisle, “sometimes it takes a really long time to go through all of that.”

And another woman said she has difficulty identifying the sheer number of ingredients on a product, especially those which are not as healthy.

“I get confused and I realize ‘oh it’s just low in sodium’ and not necessarily low in fat,” she told 680News.

Interactive tools, as well as a fact sheet which can be printed and put on a fridge, will also be available on the Health Canada website.