Bill C-460

1st Session, 41st Parliament,

60-61 Elizabeth II, 2011-2012

house of commons of canada

BILL C-460

An Act respecting the implementation of the Sodium Reduction Strategy for Canada

Whereas salt is a major cause of cardiovascular disease;

Whereas the World Health Organization estimates that one-fifth of all deaths in high-income countries, or nearly 48,000 deaths annually in Canada, are due to preventable nutrition-related diseases — such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and certain cancers — that are caused by dangerously high blood cholesterol and glucose levels and excess abdominal body fat brought about, in part, by excess sodium intake and inadequate fruit and vegetable intake;

Whereas approximately three-quarters of dietary sodium comes from salt added to foods by food companies and very little salt is naturally occurring in unprocessed foods or added by consumers from salt shakers at the table and stove;

Whereas in 2008, Canadian researchers estimated that reducing sodium consumption by 1,800 mg per day — half of the estimated current intake of 3,500 mg daily — would prevent up to 23,500 “cardiovascular disease events” (a combination of fatal and non-fatal heart attacks, congestive heart failures and strokes) per year and, extrapolating from American estimates, such a reduction would prevent approximately 10,000 to 16,000 deaths annually in Canada;

Whereas it is always better to prevent ill-health, where possible, than to rely on more invasive, dangerous and costly approaches such as coronary by-pass operations or drugs to treat disease after it has already caused damage;

Whereas, in July 2010, the Sodium Working Group, a panel of experts on sodium established by the Minister of Health in 2007, proposed that regulatory measures be considered if necessary and, in September 2010, provincial and territo-rial ministers of health also urged the federal Minister of Health to begin developing mandatory sodium regulations as a contingency in case the voluntary approach did not prove effective;

Whereas, in August 2010 the premiers and territorial leaders declared that supporting healthy living is also an important way to reduce burdens on the health care system, encouraged Canadians to reduce their personal sodium intake level to 1,500 mg per day and urged the food industry to immediately implement the voluntary measures recommended by the Sodium Working Group report;

Whereas Statistics Canada estimates that the average Canadian consumes double the recommended amount of sodium, three-quarters of which comes from heavily salted processed foods, including bread, cereal, prepared meats, cheese, soup and restaurant foods;

Whereas given that our food supply has both national and international sources, Health Can-ada’s nutrition-science expertise and the federal government’s ample constitutional authority make the federal government best suited to use its regulatory and spending levers to help curb nutrition-related diseases;

Whereas the federal Minister of Health disbanded the expert Sodium Working Group before its mandate was complete;

Whereas, in January 2012, 17 leading health groups — including the Canadian Medical Association, The College of Family Physicians of Canada, the Canadian Nurses Association, the Canadian Stroke Network, Hypertension Canada and the Centre for Science in the Public Interest — signed an open letter urging the Prime Minister to implement the sodium reduction strategy to achieve the interim goal of reducing average daily per capita sodium consumption to 2,300 mg (down one-third from the current intake of 3,400 mg), which goal the government had embraced in December 2010;

Whereas, in June 2012, after a year of failed negotiations with the federal government, provincial and territorial governments released a report entitled Reducing the Sodium Intake of Canadians: A Provincial and Territorial Report on Progress and Recommendations for Future Action;

Whereas according to the World Health Organization, government-led efforts to reduce sodium levels in foods may be the most cost-effective way to prevent disease, rivalling even tobacco control;

And whereas, to date, federal food regulations have not been effective in preventing sodium-related disease, mainly because they have limited sodium levels only in certain foods for children under age two;

Now, therefore, Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:

SHORT TITLE

1. This Act may be cited as the Sodium Reduction Strategy for Canada Act.

INTERPRETATION

2. The following definitions apply in this Act.

“Minister” means the Minister of Health.

“prepackaged food” means any food, within the meaning of the Food and Drugs Act, that is contained in a package and that has more than one ingredient.

“Sodium Reduction Strategy” means the strategy contained in the document entitled Sodium Reduction Strategy for Canada, published by the Minister of Health in July 2010, setting out the recommendations of the Sodium Working Group.

PURPOSE

3. The purpose of this Act is to implement the Sodium Reduction Strategy, thereby requiring food manufacturers to lower sodium levels or to alert consumers if they have not done so, and ensuring that consumers have access to objective, clearly understandable and non-misleading information to facilitate healthy food choices.

OPTING OUT

4. In recognition of the unique nature of the jurisdiction of the Government of Quebec with regard to health care, and despite any other provision of this Act, the Government of Quebec may choose to be exempted from the application of this Act except in relation to food products from Quebec that are to be sent to other provinces.

SODIUM REDUCTION STRATEGY

5. The Minister, assisted by the Chief Public Health Officer, must implement the Sodium Reduction Strategy and, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, must give priority to the following measures:

(a) ensuring that the amount of sodium added to the Canadian food supply is reduced to safe levels, as described in section 8;

(b) improving consumer information about sodium on food labels, and in Canada’s Food Guide and other publications over which the Government of Canada has authority by, in part, making certain amendments to the Food and Drug Regulations;

(c) protecting children from being deceived by commercial marketing for, among other things, high-sodium foods;

(d) ensuring public funds are not spent on high-sodium foods; and

(e) establishing the Government of Canada as the leader in monitoring food companies to ensure their progress toward the sodium-reduction goals set out in the Sodium Reduction Strategy.

REPORTING

6. (1) Within 180 days of the coming into force of this Act and annually thereafter, the Chief Public Health Officer must provide the Minister with a report

(a) describing the measures to be taken by the Government of Canada in the coming year to implement the Sodium Reduction Strategy, including

(i) the annual reduction targets for population sodium consumption for each of the ten years immediately following the coming into force of this Act, and

(ii) the estimated reduction of sodium levels resulting from each of the measures to be implemented; and

(b) describing the progress of the Government of Canada in implementing the meas-ures contained in the preceding report, in giving priority to the measures referred to in paragraphs 5(a) to (e), and in achieving the reduction goals.

(2) The Chief Public Health Officer must consult with the Sodium Reduction Advisory Committee established under section 7 when preparing the report referred to in subsection (1).

(3) The Chief Public Health Officer must, in the report referred to in subsection (1), set out the source of the data and information used in the preparation of the report and the methodology employed to arrive at the report's conclusions and recommendations.

(4) The Minister must cause the report referred to in subsection (1) to be laid before each House of Parliament on any of the first 30 days on which that House is sitting after the Minister receives the report.

SODIUM REDUCTION ADVISORY COMMITTEE

7. (1) The Minister must establish an independent committee, to be known as the Sodium Reduction Advisory Committee, composed of at least 20 but not more than 25 members from health-focused non-governmental organizations, the scientific community, consumer advocacy groups, organizations of health professionals, and various government departments and agencies.

(2) A person must not be appointed as a member of the Sodium Reduction Advisory Committee if doing so would place the member in a conflict of interest.

(3) The members of the Committee are to hold office without remuneration and are not to be reimbursed for expenses incurred in the course of their duties.

(4) The Committee must advise the Minister on the progress made in implementing the Sodium Reduction Strategy and must con-sult stakeholders, including companies and associations involved in the manufacture, sale, and distribution of foods, food additives, and pharmaceutical drugs.

SODIUM LEVELS

8. Subject to section 9, prepackaged foods must contain no more than the sodium levels indicated in the Guiding Benchmark Sodium Reduction Levels for Processed Foods that is contained in the document entitled Guidance for the Food Industry on Reducing Sodium in Processed Foods and published in June 2012 by Health Canada, as amended from time to time.

LABELS

9. The label of any prepackaged food that exceeds the sodium levels referred to in section 8 must carry, in a manner to be prescribed by regulation, the following statement on the principal display panel, in English and French, in text no smaller than 50 percent of the size of the common name: “This food does not meet Health Canada’s sodium-reduction targets. Excess sodium is a leading cause of hypertension, heart attack and strokes. Cet aliment ne respecte pas les cibles de réduction du sodium de Santé Canada. L'excès de sodium est l'une des principales causes de l'hypertension, des crises cardiaques et des accidents vasculaires cérébraux”

TRANSMISSION OF INFORMATION

10. Any person who sells prepackaged food must provide the Minister with the sodium content of the food and other nutrient information in a machine-readable format.

PUBLIC REGISTRY

11. The Minister must establish a public registry on the Internet for the purpose of facilitating access to documents relating to matters under this Act, including information respecting the sodium content of food referred to in section 10.

OFFENCES

12. Sections 31 to 36 of the Food and Drugs Act apply to a person who contravenes any of the provisions of this Act or of the regulations made under this Act.

REGULATIONS

13. The Governor in Council may make regulations:

(a) respecting the form of the public registry, the keeping of the public registry and access to it; and

(b) establishing nutrition standards for federal food procurement and federal dietary advice.

FOOD AND DRUG REGULATIONS

14. Within one year after the day on which this Act comes into force, the Governor in Council, on the recommendation of the Minister, must amend the Food and Drug Regulations to:

(a) define “serving size” for the purpose of reporting nutrition information on food labels in a non-misleading way, and specify any exceptions;

(b) require that the nutrition facts tables on the label of prepackaged foods indicate the amount of sodium per serving expressed both in milligrams and as a percentage of 1,500 mg, the Department of Health’s recommended Adequate Intake (AI) for a typical adult, or the applicable lower amount for foods marketed specifically to other age groups;

(c) prescribe the criteria for notification, print size, colour coding and other specifications to apply to statements indicating the high sodium levels in standardized menu items sold in large chain restaurants; and

(d) make any necessary amendment to carry out the requirements of this Act and the implementation of the Sodium Reduction Strategy.

COMING INTO FORCE

15. This Act comes into force 90 days after the day on which it receives royal assent.