Feds launch campaign to dumb down nutrition labels
Posted Oct 22, 2010 3:04 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Health Canada says it wants to make it a little easier for Canadians to read food nutrition labels.
A new campaign launched Friday aims to give grocery shoppers more information on the per cent of daily value number for things like salt and fibre.
Health Canada is encouraging Canadians to buy more foods that have low levels of fat and sodium and high levels of fibre, iron, vitamin A and calcium.
The government also wants grocery shoppers to remember that when it comes to the per cent of daily value number on a food label, 5 per cent is a little and 15 per cent is a lot.
Calgary based Registered Dietician Andrea Holwegner tells 660News these are good general rules, but there’s one other part of the label people need to keep in mind as well.
“Sometimes people will eat two to three times the serving size listed on the label,” she says. “So they’ll need to know that they need to double or triple the quantities on there if the portion that they’re eating is bigger.”
For more information about Health Canada’s campaign, click here.
