Alberta Beef Producers unhappy with Health Canada’s plan to require warning labels on ground beef

A front-of-package label could soon be coming to grocery store shelves informing Canadians of nutrients in their food.

But one aspect of the proposed plan isn’t sitting right with some Canadians: ground meat is subject to the label.

“That’s the million-dollar question, we’re unsure as to why they’ve singled out ground beef and ground pork,” said Melanie Wowk Chair of the Alberta Beef Producers.

“Ground beef is obviously a one-ingredient product and most of those, well all other products that are one ingredient have been exempt,” said Wowk.

Health Canada says its intent is not to warn consumers, but rather to provide Canadians with quick and easy-to-use information on foods high in saturated fat, sodium, or sugars.

Some foods falling into that category have received an exemption.

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“When you look at the list of exceptions, there’s really a lack of coherency essentially, and when you look at dairy for example, which has been exempted, you do wonder whether or not ground meat is being discriminated against,” said Sylvain Charlebois, the director of the Agrifoods Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University.

Wowk says the proposed labels could impact consumer confidence.

“Women my age, we need our protein and we get scared away by fat labels because it’s been driven into our heads,” said Wowk.

Alberta’s provincial government and official opposition are in rare agreement on this topic, with the UCP saying excluding ground meat from the exemption is scientifically baseless. And the NDP argues the label appears to target raw food, ignoring the fact these products are eaten cooked.

The province also says this is an extra kick to Alberta producers trying to get back on their feet.

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Meanwhile, dairy producers, the majority of which are in eastern Canada, may see another price increase in the coming days – the second this year.

“The cost of fertilizer has gone up 44 per cent between July and March, as well the fuel costs have gone up by 32 per cent and our feed costs have gone up by eight per cent all in that same time frame,” said David Wiens, the vice-president of Dairy Famers of Canada and the chair of Dairy Farmers of Manitoba.

Wiens says that’s why dairy farmers have asked the Canadian Dairy Commission to allow them to sell dairy at an increase price.

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“The kind of inflationary pressures, we’re all experiencing it, whether we’re dairy farmers or whether we’re consumers,” said Wiens.

The commission’s decision is expected in the coming days. If the price increase is approved, Wiens says the impact on consumers is still up in the air.