CHFA calls for Food and Drug Act reform
By Food in Canada staff
Food Safety Food Trends Regulation Research & Development Health & Wellness Ingredients & Additives government regulation natural health products organicOpinion poll shows support for modernization of FDA
Ottawa, Ont. – The Canadian Health Food Association (CHFA) has released the results of a public opinion poll supporting a call for reform of the Food and Drug Act.
The association, which represents the natural health and organic products sector, wants natural health products (NHP) removed from the FDA as a subset of drugs. “With over 70 per cent of Canadians using NHPs it is important that the regulations of these products are updated,” says CHFA president Helen Sherrard.
Consumer support
The poll, conducted by Ipsos Reid Omnibus, shows that the majority of Canadians want a modernized FDA, and support a new act for NHPs.
In addition, 71 per cent of Canadians polled say they consider NHPs to be safe. And among Canadian consumers of NHPs 80 per cent say the products are “somewhat or very important” to their family.
In 1998 the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health found that NHPs are neither food nor drugs, and so should be defined separately in the Act. However, the FDA was not amended to reflect this fact, something that continues to create many serious problems for the Canadian NHP sector, says the CHFA.
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