Food Directorate's Food Times

Food Times
Recap of September 2014
Food Times is aimed at providing our broad stakeholder community with updates on the activities of the
Food Directorate. Food Times is an important vehicle for informing our stakeholders of our
achievements over the past month including the development of standards, guidelines and regulations,
risk communications and engagement activities, including upcoming consultations and events of interest
to our broad stakeholder community, both domestically and internationally.

Risk Communication Webpostings

Health Canada Provides Free Access to Re-usable and
Customizable Resources on Food Safety

Looking for ways to promote food safety, particularly to at-risk
populations, through your organizations network? Health Canadas
new Food Safety Toolkit was produced with that in mind, allowing for
reproduction of content without charge.

Developed for intermediaries, this online resource features ready-to-
use downloadable materials to help educate the public about safe
food handling practices.

It is comprised of:
Fact sheets on food safety, including a quick reference chart on
safe internal cooking temperatures as well as lists of foods to
avoid;
Promotional items such as posters, ads and web banners;
Ready-to-use social media posts for your Facebook page.

All items can be printed on standard-size paper in your office, sent for
professional full-colour printing, shared by email and posted to a
website or social media site. Additionally, most products can be co-
branded with your organizations logo at no charge.

Along with messages for a more general audience, the toolkits
components are specifically adapted to groups most at risk of
contracting foodborne illness and developing serious complications:
Adults aged 60 and over
People with a weakened immune system
Children aged 5 and under
Pregnant women

These resources are available on Health Canadas Website.

Join us in raising awareness and understanding of safe food handling in the
day-to-day lives of Canadians to help reduce foodborne illnesses.


Recent Scientific Publication

Bartholomaeus A, Parrott W, Bondy G, Walker K. on behalf of the ILSI International Food
Biotechnology Committee Task Force on the Use of Mammalian Toxicology Studies in the Safety
Assessment of GM Foods (2013). The use of whole food animal studies in the safety assessment of
genetically modified crops: limitations and recommendations. Crit Rev Toxicol 43(S2): 1-24.

Becalski A (2014). Processing Contaminants: Benzene. In: Motarjemi Y. (ed.) Encyclopedia of Food
Safety, Volume 2, pp. 376-380. Waltham, MA: Academic Press.

Cao XL, Zhao W, Churchill R, Dabeka R (2013). Di-(2-ethylhexyl) adipate in selected total diet food
composite samples. J Food Protection. 76(11):1985-1988.

Carter AT, Austin JW, Weedmark KA, Corbett C, Peck MW (2014). Three classes of plasmid (47- 63
kb) carry the type B neurotoxin gene cluster of group II Clostridium botulinum. Genome Biol Evol. 6(8):
2076-2087.
Catford A, Kouam V, Martinez-Perez A, Gill A, Buenaventura E, Couture H, Farber JM (2014). Risk
profile on non-O157 vertoxin-producing Escherichia coli in produce, beef, milk and dairy products in
Canada. Int Food Risk Anal J. 4(21). doi: 10.5772/59208.

Cooke GM, Taylor M, Bourque C, Curran I, Gurofsky S, Gill S (2014). Effects of furan on male rat
reproduction parameters in a 90-day gavage study. Reprod Toxicol. 46:85-90.

Cooper M, Zalot L, Wadsworth LA (2014). Calcium, Vitamin D, Iron, and Folate Messages in Three
Canadian Magazines. Can J Diet Pract Res.75:16. E-print on August 15, 2014.

Dabeka RW, Mckenzie AD, Forsyth DS (2014). Total mercury in canned tuna sold in Canada in 2006.
Food Additives & Contaminants: Part B: Surveillance, 7(2): 110-114.doi:
10.1080/19393210.2013.85603

Dabeka RW, Rawn DFK, Cao XL, Moisey J (2013). Canadian Total Diet Study Experiences. G.G.
Moy and R.W. Vannoort (eds.), Total Diet Studies, doi: 10.1007/978-1-4419-7689-5_22, 233.
Springer Science+Business Media New York.

Gill S, Kavanagh M, Cherry W, Barker M, Weld M, Cooke GM (2014). A 28-day Gavage toxicity
Study in Fischer 344 Rats with 3-methylfuran. Toxicol Pathol. 42(2):350-360.

Koerner TB, Cleroux C, Poirier C, Cantin I, La Vieille S, Hayward S, Dubois S (2013).
Gluten contamination of naturally gluten-free flours and starches used by Canadians with celiac disease.
Food Additives and Contaminants - Part A Chemistry, Analysis, Control, Exposure and Risk
Assessment. 30 (12): 2017-2021.

Lefebvre DE, Venema K, Gombau L, Valerio LG, Raju J, Bondy GS, Bouwmeester H, Singh RP,
Clippinger AJ, Collnot EM, Mehta R, Stone V. Utility of models of the gastrointestinal tract for
assessment of the digestion and absorption of engineered nanomaterials released from food matrices.
Nanotoxicology. URL: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/tnan.

Mailloux RJ, Florian M, Chen Q, Yan J, Petrov I, Coughlan MC, Laziyan M, Caldwell D, Lalande M,
Patry D, Gagnon C, Sarafin K, Truong J, Chan HM, Ratnayake N, Li N, Willmore WG, Jin X. Exposure
to a Northern Contaminant Mixture (NCM) Alters Hepatic Energy and Lipid Metabolism Exacerbating
Hepatic Steatosis in Obese JCR Rats. Plos ONE 9(9): e106832. doi:10.1371.

Marles RJ, Barber J, Chao E, Martineau C (2014). Supplemented foods: Scientific and Canadian
regulatory framework for botanicals added to foods as ingredients with putative health benefits.
American Society of Pharmacognosy 2014 Annual Meeting Held in conjunction with the 14th Annual
Oxford International Conference on the Science of Botanicals, Abstract CL11. Planta Medica. 80(10):
760. doi: 10.1055/s-0034-1382344

Miller JD, Schaafsma AW, Bhatnagar D, Bondy G, Carbone I, Harris L, Harrison G, Munkvold G,
Oswald I, Pestka J, Sharpe L, Sumarah M, Tittlemier S, Zhou T (2014). Mycotoxins that affect the
North American Agri-Food sector: state of the art and directions for the future. World Mycotoxin J. 7:
63-82.
Nagasaka R, Gagnon C, Swist E, Rondeau I, Masarelli I, Cheung W, and Ratnayake WM (2014). EPA
and DHA status of South Asian and White Canadians living in the capital region of Canada. Lipids
49(10): 1057-1069.

Pightling AW, Pagotto F (2014). Draft genome sequence of Cronobacter sakazakii clonal complex 45
strain HPB5174, isolated from a powdered infant formula facility in Ireland. Genome Announc.
2(4):e00778-14. doi:10.1128/genomeA.00778-14.

Pightling AW, Pertronella N, Pagotto F (2014). Choice of reference sequence and assembler for
alignment of Listeria monocytogenes short-read sequence data greatly influences rates of error in SNP
analyses. PLoS ONE. 9(8): e104579. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0104579.

Plightling AW, Lin M, Pagotto F (2014). Draft genome sequence of Listeria monocytogenes strain
LI0521 (syn. HPB7171), isolated in 1983 during an outbreak in Massachusetts caused by contaminated
cheese. Genome Announc. 2(4):e00729-14. doi:10.1128/genomeA.00729-14.

Ryan JJ, Rawn DFK (2014). The brominated flame retardants, PBDEs and HBCD, in Canadian human milk
samples collected from 1982 to 2005; concentrations and trends. Environment International. 70: 1-8.

Sinclair SE, Cooper M, Mansfield ED (2014). The influence of menu labeling on calories selected or
consumed: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Acad Nutr Diet. 114(9): 1375-1388.

Walton RN, Clemens A, Chung J, Moore S, Wharton D, Haydu L, De Villa E, Sanders G, Bussey J,
Richardson D, Austin JW (2014). Outbreak of type E foodborne botulism linked to traditionally
prepared salted fish in Ontario, Canada. Foodborne Pathog Dis. doi:10.1089/fpd.2014.1783.

Weedmark KA, Lambert DL, Mabon P, Haryden KL, Urfano CJ, Leclair D, Van Domselaar G, Austin
JW, Corbett CR (2014). Two novel toxin variants revealed by whole-genome sequencing of 175
Clostridium botulinum type E strains. Appl Environ Microbiol. 80(20): 6334-6345.

Zinck JWR, MacFarlane AJ (2014). Approaches for the identification of genetic modifiers of nutrient
dependent phenotypes: Examples from folate. Frontiers in Nutrition. 1(8):1-10.

New Studies Show Improvements in Canadians Intake of Trans Fat and the Levels of Trans Fat
in Foods Available on the Canadian Marketplace

A new study related to the trans fat levels in Canadians diets, authored by Dr. Nimal Ratnayake and
colleagues from Health Canadas Food Directorate, was recently published online in The American
Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The study examined the trans fat contents of 639 human milk samples
collected in 2009, 2010 and 2011. The research paper highlighted substantial decreases (30% reduction)
in the trans fat contents of human milk from 2009 to 2011. As well, the study estimated that the trans
fatty acid intake of Canadian breastfeeding mothers was 0.9%, 0.5%, and 0.3% of total energy in 2009,
2010, and 2011, respectively. These values are all lower than the World Health Organizations
maximum recommended intake of 1% of total energy for a healthy diet.
Ratnayake WMN, Swist E, Zoka R, Gagnon C, Lillycrop W, Pantazapoulos P. Mandatory trans fat
labeling regulations and nationwide product reformulations to reduce trans fatty acid content in
foods contributed to lowered concentrations of trans fat in Canadian womens breast milk samples
collected in 2009-2011. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2014;100:1036-40.
In addition, another study published in the same issue of The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
authored by Dr. Mary LAbb and colleagues from University of Toronto (Arcand J, Scourboutakos
MJ, Au JTC, LAbbe MR. trans Fatty acids in the Canadian food supply: an updated analysis.
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2014;100:1116-23.) assessed the proportion of prepackaged
and restaurant foods that meet the recommended trans fat limits adopted by Health Canada. This study
found that foods meeting recommended limits improved from 75% in 2005-2009 to 97% in 2010-2011
and that nearly all restaurant foods met the recommended limits. However, some categories of food such
as dairy-free cheeses, frostings, lard/shortening and coffee whiteners still exceeded the recommended
limits.
The results from both studies demonstrate that Canadas approach to reducing trans fat intake of
Canadians through mandatory nutrition labelling and collaboration with the food industry on voluntary
reduction efforts, complemented with enhanced consumer education and awareness efforts, continues to
build on the progress observed during Health Canadas Trans Fat Monitoring Program from 2005-2009.
These studies also support a continued call to work together in overcoming some remaining challenges
with trans fat reduction in certain foods, to help further reduce a significant risk factor for coronary heart
disease in Canada.

Items to Note

Health Canada Survey on Food and Nutrition Web Page Architecture

The Food Directorate needs your help!

The Government of Canada is currently in the process of
merging approximately 1,500 individual websites
representing over 100 federal departments and agencies
into one website - Canada.ca - which will act as a single
web portal for all federal government information. Over
the next three years, Canadians and stakeholders will notice
the stepwise transition of content over to Canada.ca!

One of the topics slated for early transition is Food and
Nutrition. Health Canada is currently working on the Food
and Nutrition architecture and are interested in your
feedback.


Over the coming week, a link to a bilingual survey may pop-up when visiting certain Food and
Nutrition web pages. The survey is aimed to determine whether users of the food and nutrition pages
agree with the proposed labels and organization. If prompted, please take time to provide feedback
through this survey as it will help us gain a better understanding of how the Food and Nutrition web
pages should and will be organized on Canada.ca.

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