Steve Anthony: True Canadian Pharmacy

p Health Canada has a sodium working group looking at reducing salt content in the food supply, but Feldman is frustrated by the slow progress. Food manufacturers are using too much salt in foods from soup to hamburger buns, he said, based on the group’s survey of about 320 processed and restaurant foods. The Centre for Science in the Public Interest, a non-profit nutrition and food safety advocacy group, published the report, called Salty to a !–more– Fault, online. High-sodium warning labels where necessary. We’ve previously called it public health enemy number one, said Bill Jeffrey, national co-ordinator for the centre in Ottawa. The World Health Organization said mandating reduced sodium is a government’s cheapest option for improving the health of its population. Health Canada to set sodium reduction targets for key categories of food, as the United Kingdom has done. Health Canada to require simpler nutrition labels on the front of packages using a symbolic or numerical rating. Norman Campbell, an internationally recognized expert in hypertension and the president of Blood Pressure Canada. The group is calling on governments and food manufacturers to do more to manage the risks posed by excess sodium consumption, saying labelling is not enough. Canadians are in effect being held hostage to high sodium intakes by eating processed foods, Feldman said. Ross Feldman, a hypertension specialist at the University of Western Ontario and a past president of the Canadian Hypertension Society. Reducing dietary sodium could reduce cardiovascular disease rates and probably save the health care system about $2 billion a year, said Dr. More than three-quarters of the salt in Canadians’ diets is added by manufacturers or at restaurants, said Dr. The closure of loopholes in nutrition labelling regulations that exempt in-store bakeries, delis, and butcher shops. Salt should be available in grocery stores, but it should be up to consumers to add it if they wish, rather than food processors’ doing so, he said. Sodium in french fries, for example, ranged from a low of 40 milligrams in a 70 gram serving at Swiss Chalet to a high of 550 milligrams for a similar sized serving at Harvey’s. The setting of sensible sodium criteria targets for buying foods for RCMP, military facilities, government cafeterias, penitentiaries, and other government venues and government sponsored events, including the upcoming 2010 Olympic Games. Governments to revise standards for sodium substitutes in staple foods. Grocery stores and chain restaurants to press suppliers to reduce sodium levels. The group’s claim is backed by research that suggests almost one third of all hypertension cases are a result of consuming excess salt, said Dr. The challenge is, it’s nearly impossible for people to limit their salt consumption to a healthy dose since so much is added in prepared and packaged foods, Campbell said. Food companies and restaurants to reduce sodium in foods while Health Canada develops a sodium reduction strategy. Consumers to read labels carefully. Norman Campbell. Sodium kills more Canadians each year than any other chemical substance, a report released Thursday suggests. Reducing dietary sodium would prevent 11,500 Canadians from having a stroke, heart attack or heart failure each year, Campbell said, adding that could probably save the health-care system about $2 billion a year.

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p That means they’re getting more complex, Armstrong said. In 57 per cent of the recalls, the source appeared to be Canada, 12 per cent were from the U. , compiled the number of food recalls and allergy alerts issued by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency between 2004 and 2009. Catharines, Ont. And most came from Canada. , three per cent were from other countries, and 18 per cent were of unclear origin. Within that, alerts about new recalls increased !–more– by about 27 per cent in total. A shipment of beef from one factory, used in a single brand name hamburger patty, for example. Canadian food recalls are increasing both in frequency and in complexity, researchers at Brock University have discovered. A team led by Michael J. S. A single product, but because they went to different wholesalers for cookies, nuts, mixed nuts, ice cream and peanut butter, more alerts were still coming out into March, April, May and June. Compare that to the peanut recall that started last January, he said.
That might suggest the food system is getting increasingly complex, or that contaminants are getting in earlier and through more and more entry points, Armstrong said. They’re not 21st-century exotic chemicals or superbugs, he said. CFIA health alerts are up significantly over the last four years, but most of the increase is attributed to updates of existing recalls, Brock professor Michael Armstrong has found
Recalls used to be fairly simple and linked to a single shipment or product, he said. The 2009 line consists only of data from the first six months. Those are bacteria that have been around forever, and are pretty well understood by the scientific community. More research is needed before making such a determination, he added. 7 per month in early 2009. I see good news and bad news in that, Armstrong said. Armstrong, a professor of quality management at Brock in St. Armstrong and his researcher, accounting student Cassandra Maddaloni, found that the total alert rate almost tripled over the period, from 7. The total number of food recalls by the CFIA has increased.
Armstrong said there are many factors at play, so it’s too early to tell if more contaminants are getting into the food chain or if health officials are simply getting better at finding them and becoming more open about releasing their findings. But there are now almost six times as many updates or expansions to existing recalls as there used to be. There could be several causes. he asked. The perception is that there’s been more, but is that the fact? So the bad news is that it’s our own fault, but the good news is we have the control to be able to clean it up. But when they happen they’re impacting a greater region, he said. 5 per month in early 2004 to 20.

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If you’re looking at food and activity in that part of the brain goes up, it means you are more likely to choose to eat it, says Todd Hare, the lead author of the study. They were shown the slides again and asked to rate the foods on their health benefits. The researchers identified 19 participants who showed significant dietary self-control by picking mostly healthy food. Activity in the vmPFC reflects the value assigned to foods during decision-making. (more…)

5 percentage points 19 times out of 20. A study by researchers at the University of Regina suggests consumers remain reluctant to consume Maple Leaf foods products six months after the company issued a major recall of products contaminated with listeria. The survey results are considered accurate to within 3. Most respondents were aware of the recall, Charlebois said, noting that 90 per cent had heard of the listeria problems. He said it was also (more…)

A common food additive has been found to increase the risk and speed of spread of lung cancer in mice, say South Korean researchers.
While previous studies show results of animal trials cannot always be replicated in humans, the researchers say dietary restrictions of the additive may be critical for lung cancer treatment as well as prevention.
The Seoul National University study suggests a diet high in inorganic phosphates could speed growth (more…)

The deadly, nationwide outbreak of a previously anonymous bacterium has pushed listeria and food safety to the forefront of the public consciousness, but experts warn that people are mistaken if they think avoiding Maple Leaf cold cuts amounts to safe eating in 2009.
Canadians can expect food-borne illness outbreak levels to hold steady, or even increase, in the absence of wholesale changes in how such events are tracked and managed, said Rick Holley, (more…)

International experts have set an amount of melamine that people can eat daily without “appreciable” health risk, the World Health Organization said Friday.
The amount is lower than previous tolerable daily intake levels set by some national food authorities, the international body said.
“We expect this could better guide the authorities in protecting the health of their public,” said the WHO’s director for food safety, Dr. Jorgen Schlundt, at (more…)

Dry pet food contaminated with salmonella sickened at least 79 people over three years, U.S. health officials said Thursday while warning that pet food may be an under recognized source of infections in humans, especially young children.
“This outbreak is the first documented outbreak to associate human salmonella infections with contaminated dry dog food and to trace human illness to a contaminated pet food plant,” the U.S. Centers for Disease (more…)

In what could be a first for the North American food industry, Maple Leaf Foods said Wednesday it has appointed a chief food safety officer in the aftermath of a deadly listeria outbreak that originated at one of its meat plants.
Randall Huffman, who has a PhD in meat and animal science, and is currently the president of the American Meat Institute, will move into the new job on Jan. 5, the company said.
Michael McCain, the CEO of Maple Leaf Foods, (more…)