Food for Health Workshop: Guidance On “Highly Processed Foods”: Assessing Impacts from Bench to Bedside
Virtual, Canada
April 22, 2021
10:45 am – 4:30 pm
With the launch of the revised Canada’s Food Guide (CFG) in 2019, key messaging within the Guide includes “limiting highly processed foods”. But what does this mean and is it possible to limit highly processed foods in light of other messaging that is also included in the CFG?
Workshop Objectives:
This workshop will explore the evolution of food processing, the rationale for why we process foods, and the links between processed food and health.
By attending this workshop, participants will be able to:
- Understand why foods are processed
- Explore the rationale for advocating limits on consumption of processed foods, including what current evidence is saying and the implications on health
- Recognize potential unintended consequences of advocated limits on highly processed, including implications for fortification, food innovation and food security
- Examine consumer demands for more plant and animal-based processed foods and how those demands align with Health Canada guidance
- Put into action the effective use of processed foods in clinical settings
- Illustrate how messaging about processed foods can best guide various populations, including clinical populations, educational audiences, consumers, parents/families/children and older adults
The Food for Health Workshop is an annual pre-conference event hosted by CNS and IAFNS. The workshop brings together representatives from across the nutrition spectrum (academia, healthcare, government, industry, trainees) to engage in solutions and actions that aim to improve the health of Canadians.
Draft program only – program subject to change. All times EST.
THURSDAY, APRIL 22, 2021 – 10:45 AM – 16:30 PM
10:45 – 11:00 Welcome and Introductions
11:00 – 11:30 Current guidance on processed food consumption
Speaker: Alfred Aziz, PhD Director General, Office of Nutrition Policy and Promotion
Health Products and Food Branch, Health Canada
11:30 – 12:00 Food processing at the nexus of COVID, nutrition and food security
Speaker: Rickey Yada, PhD, University of British Columbia
12:00 – 12:20 Q and A / Discussion
12:20 – 12:30 Break
12:30 – 13:00 What is the rationale for advocating limits on processed food consumption?
Speaker: Malek Batal, PhD, Université de Montréal
13:00 – 13:30 Examining the healthfulness of processed foods in Canada using a branded food database
Speaker: Mary L’Abbé, PhD, Professor, Department of Nutritional Sciences,
Director WHO Collaborating Centre on Nutrition Policy for Chronic Disease Prevention
Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto
13:30 – 14:00 Are there unintended consequences to advocating avoidance of processed foods?
Speaker: Julie Miller Jones, PhD, St. Catherine University
14:00 – 14:20 Q and A / Discussion
14:20 – 14:30 BREAK
14:30 – 15:00 Innovations in food processing: the Plant Protein Paradox
Speaker: Shannon Hood-Niefer, PhD, MBA, Saskatchewan Food Industry Development Centre Inc.
15:00 – 15:30 Processed foods and clinical implications
Speaker: Heather Keller, PhD, University of Waterloo
15:30 – 15:50 Q and A / Discussion
15:50 – 16:20 Break-out Sessions or Panel Discussion
16:20 – 16:30 Break-out session – Report back
16:20 – 16:30 PM Session wrap-up and concluding remarks