Commentary
For years, Canadians have wondered why so many packaged foods contain so much sodium, sugar, or saturated fat. Health Canada may have found a remarkably simple way to change that: Put a magnifying glass on the front of the package and let shoppers decide.
Since Jan. 1, prepackaged foods that meet or exceed certain thresholds for these nutrients have been required to carry Health Canada’s black-and-white “high in” symbol. It does not ban a product or tell anyone what to eat. It makes information that was once easy to overlook impossible to miss.
And Canadians are noticing.
A national survey conducted by Dalhousie University’s Agri-Food Analytics Lab in partnership with Blendtek Ingredients found that 94.2 percent of grocery shoppers are aware of front-of-package nutrition symbols, while 86.9 percent say they understand them well. More than half have decided against buying a product because of a warning, and 50.5 percent have switched to another product in the same category. Nearly two-thirds expect the symbols to influence future purchases….