OTTAWA — Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq confirmed Tuesday the federal government won’t fulfil a promise to regulate trans fats in foods if voluntary measures failed.
Facing questions from the Opposition in the House of Commons about newly released internal records showing she killed a government plan in 2009 to impose strict limits on trans fats in food products after the voluntary approach didn’t get the job done, Aglukkaq said she won’t add a “regulatory burden” to industry.
Aglukkaq’s predecessor, Tony Clement, gave the industry two years to meet targets established by the government’s trans fat task force or face regulations.
When the two-year mark passed in 2009, Health Canada concluded regulations were needed and developed a plan for mandatory limits to be in place by the fall of 2011, records obtained by the Centre for Science in the Public Interest under access to information show.
“Despite progress made” voluntarily by the food industry, “Health Canada recognizes that further action is needed,” Aglukkaq said in the draft release prepared on Oct. 1, 2011. It was titled “Health Canada announces regulations to limit trans fat in Canadian foods.”
After that was shelved, top officials at Health Canada pressed Aglukkaq at a ministerial briefing in December 2009 to “move forward with regulations,” saying the move made fiscal sense and was good for public health.
In addition to a “net benefit” of $5 billion to $9 billion over 20 years, the department estimated the move would prevent more than 12,000 heart attacks.
Aglukkaq rejected the recommendation, the records show.
“Health experts are clear, the provinces are onboard and families are trying to make healthier choices for their kids. In fact, there was a plan in place but the large food companies complained and, guess what, the minister killed it. In 2009, the minister wrote, ‘further action is needed.’ Can the minister tell us if she was wrong then or is she wrong now?” NDP health critic Libby Davies asked Aglukkaq during question period Tuesday.
Saying Aglukkaq’s record on the file “lacks conviction,” deputy health critic Anne Minh-Thu Quach added that the move is “irresponsible and goes against her prior commitments.”
Aglukkaq defended her decision, saying the industry has made “real progress” in reducing trans fats in processed foods. “I have also instructed my department to engage with stakeholders to identify the challenges and how best to overcome them without adding a regulatory burden,” Aglukkaq added.
The final data of Health Canada’s Trans Fat Monitoring Program, released in December 2009, showed that 73 per cent of pre-packages foods selected for review met the targets, but the success rate in some categories — like pre-packaged baked goods — were dismal.
For example, 75 per cent of croissants failed to meet the target, compared with 67 per cent of doughnuts, 64 per cent of pies and 55 per cent of brownies.
The compliance rate was higher for other snacks, but still showed a significant percentage of products failing to meet Health Canada’s target, set at no more than two per cent trans in the fat content of vegetable oils and spreadable margarine and five per cent in all other foods. This included 42 per cent of popcorn products and 35 per cent of packaged cookies.
Trans fats, created by pumping hydrogen into liquid oil at an elevated temperature, raise the levels of low-density lipoprotein or “bad” cholesterol in the body and can lead to clogged arteries and heart disease.
In 2004, the House of Commons passed an NDP motion calling on the government to regulate trans fats. Most Liberal MPs and 18 Conservative MPs voted for the motion.
sschmidt@postmedia.com
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