The Canadian Council of Food and Nutrition (CCFN) releasedits 2009 Tracking Nutrition Trends (TNT): 'A 20 Year History' report. A keyfinding of the report is that food product labels continue to be Canadians'most credible and highly used source of information on food and nutrition. Thereport also reveals that while food labels are listed as a highly crediblesource, various statistics suggest that Canadians still don't fully understandthe information that is reported on them.

"Based on the findings of this 20 year report, CCFN iscalling on government, health associations, the food industry and all healthrelated sectors to step up education of food nutrition labeling to help allCanadians have a better understanding of what their food contains," saysFrancy Pillo-Blocka, President and CEO of the Canadian Council of Food andNutrition.

CCFN has been tracking various trends of sources ofnutrition information for the past 20 years and product labels haveconsistently been rated as the number one source. In 2008, 68 per cent ofCanadians reported product labels as their prime source of nutrition information,followed by the internet at 51 per cent and magazines, newspapers and books at46 per cent.

"Canadian food labels were developed with a largenumber of stakeholders to ensure information is presented fully and clearly toconsumers," says Pillo-Blocka. "The food labels have been wellreceived by Canadians and now the next step is to help us better understand allof the valuable information on the label."

The report shows that Canadians tend to focus on specificinformation when looking at food product labels. In 2008, ingredients (80 percent), best before date (74 per cent) and nutrition facts tables (71 per cent)were the information that consumers consulted the most.

While the TNT report shows that consumers trust and activelyuse the information to stay healthy, current statistics on Canadians obesityand other health related issues have reached epidemic proportion. This suggeststhat consumers still need to have a better understanding of how to use theinformation on food product labels for improved health.

SOURCE: Canadian Council of Food and Nutrition