It appears the traditional four food groups are about to get a shakeup.
A new version of Canada’s Food Guide will be released Tuesday, and it appears the government is bringing an end to its longstanding practice of dividing foods into neat categories of meat and alternatives, milk and alternatives, vegetables and fruit, and grain products.
“Based on some information we got from Health Canada, all four food groups are out – and in comes 24 categories of products,” Sylvain Charlebois, a professor at Dalhousie University and expert on the Canadian food system, told CTV’s Your Morning on Monday.
The first federal food guide was released in 1942, under the name Canada’s Official Food Rules. There have been several revisions since then, with the most recent coming in 2007.
There were initially six food groups, with fruits being separate from vegetables and eggs receiving their own category. Eggs were folded in with meat and fish in 1944, and fruits and vegetables were combined in 1977. Other food groups saw slight tweaks, mainly to promote alternative dairy products, grains and proteins, but the overall concept has remained largely the same for more than 75 years.
According to Charlebois, dairy and milk products will be one of the categories listed in the new guide. In general, the categories will focus less on promoting specific food products and more on general nutrition.
“We’re actually going to be promoting fibres and proteins. That’s the language we’re going to hear starting tomorrow,” he said.
Many specific details regarding the new guide have been kept under wraps. Dairy and beef producers have expressed concern that their products will be given short shrift.
Health Canada’s head of nutritional policy shed some light on the guide’s contents earlier this month in an interview with The Canadian Press.
Hasan Hutchison said the guide will contain “a bit of an emphasis … on having more plant-based foods,” while also referring to lean meats as nutritious choices. It will also maintain its recommendations that Canadians consume lower-fat milk, yogurt and cheeses.
Development of the guide began in 2013 and included consultations with more than 6,700 people. While the consultations revealed a general consensus of satisfaction with the existing food guide, concerns were raised around some issues, including whether it did enough to warn of the dangers of processed foods, high-sodium beverages, sugars and saturated fats.
Only part of the new guide will be released Tuesday at an event in Montreal with Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor. The remainder, including recommendations for which foods Canadians should eat and in what quantities, will be made public later this year.
