Newsroom
2003
Promote healthy diet to bolster value-added processing, CWB urges government
October 21, 2003
Winnipeg – Increasing market demand for grain-based food products is the key to spurring expansion of Canada's value-added processing industry. This was the message delivered today to the Standing Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry in Ottawa by CWB chair Ken Ritter and farmer-elected director Bill Nicholson.
"In the past few years, North American consumers have been subject to a variety of diets that promote high-fat, high-protein foods over complex carbohydrates," Ritter told the Committee. "Health Canada knows that grain products, including bread, pasta and noodles, should actually form the majority of a healthy diet."
"Canada's value-added grain industry and Canada's population as a whole will be much healthier if the federal government plays a proactive role in reminding, educating and encouraging citizens to eat a healthy balance of the four food groups," Ritter said. "A more vibrant value-added industry will be the natural outcome of this increased demand – a situation that will benefit Canada's economy, Canada's population and Canada's wheat and barley farmers."
"The Canada Food Guide recommends that each of us eat between five to 12 servings of grain-products each day."
The CWB is committed to increasing consumer demand for grain products and has joined an industry effort led by the Baking Association of Canada to promote the nutritional value of grain-based foods.
Ritter outlined the growth of the value-added processing sector over the past decade, pointing out that Canadian wheat and durum milling has increased 31 per cent since 1991, compared to growth rates of 14 per cent in the United States over the same period. However, value-added processing is driven first and foremost by consumer demand, Ritter noted, and this is where the federal government needs to take the lead.
A copy of the speech is available on the CWB Web site at www.cwb.ca under Hot Topics.
Controlled by western Canadian farmers, the CWB is the largest wheat and barley marketer in the world. As one of Canada's biggest exporters, the Winnipeg-based organization sells grain to more than 70 countries and returns all sales revenue, less marketing costs, to Prairie farmers.
For more information, please contact:
Rhéal Cenerini
Communications consultant
Winnipeg, MB
tel: (204) 983-4497