Because these changes are part of anation-wide re-orientation of Agricul­ture Canada's Research Branch, it isexpected that as programs in Ottawaare refined, new opportunities andstrengthened delivery of research willoccur at other Agriculture Canada sta­tions across the country.

The Food Research and Develop­ment Centre has just signed a letter ofintent with Adriant, of France, toaccelerate technology transferbetween French and Canadian compa­nies. It is essential that our companiesstrive to expand their horizons if theyare to cope successfully with world­wide competition. They must take for­eign markets into consideration whenplanning their future, and work ondeveloping penetration strategiesaimed at opening up new marketswhere they can discover new niches.Associations and all other kinds of jointventures can be evaluated on the basisof well-defined rules.

This twinning agreement establishedparameters in a number of priority foodresearch and development areas.Although it may be several monthsbefore the two companies actuallybegin working together, the final sign­ing of a memorandum of understand­ing will take place once there is aspecific technology transfer project.Our two organizations may have suchcommon interests as: modified­atmosphere packaging; vacuum cook­ing; conservation studies; packagingtechnology and evaluation testing;pasteurization and sterilization; extru­sion; intermediate foods and additives;sensory evaluation research; statisticalproduct evaluation methods; and foodirradiation.

Joint efforts in these priority fieldswill benefit our respective industrialpartners. Moreover, our organizationswill provide access to the R & D facili­ties of other centres or institutions inour respective networks of contacts,should this agreement be likely to con­tribute to the success of specificprojects. We plan to make our cooper­ation a real industrial and economicdevelopment tool.

Adriant is a group of French agri-foodindustry representatives, whose £oal isto provide and interface betweenresearch and industry. They seek topromote innovation and encourage the

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introduction of new technologies incompanies. This "innovation centre"brings together industry representa­tives from the Loire region, the second­largest agri- food area in France, afterBrittany, and now comprises over 120member industries, both national andinternational in scope. More than 300study and research contracts havebeen signed in the last five years.

Dr. Peter Perrin, a research scientistattached to the Agassiz research facil­ity in British Columbia, has beenappointed Assistant Director at the St.Hyacinthe Food Research and Develop­ment Centre.

Dr. Perrin obtained his Ph.D. from theUniversity of British Columbia in 1972,where he majored in botany andbiochemistry. He has worked for thegovernment of British Columbia and forAgriculture Canada in the field of post­harvest physiology. In addition, hespent a year of post-doctoral studies inthe Applied Microbiology Departmentof the University of Strathclyde inScotland.

In 1987/1 988, during a one-yearassignment to the Research Branch inOttawa, he acted as a special advisoron food. His experience in programcoordination will be valuable in manag­ing the Centre's research programs.

He will be assigned to the Centre forthe next two years, responsible forassisting the Director in planning andcoordinating programs and researchactivity.

INSIGHTS

Introduction

As nutrient information on foodlabels became more widespread, theconcept of a systematic presentationof this information as "nutrition label­ling" developed. In contrast to provid-

ing isolated declarations of one or morenutrients, its basic purpose is to pro­vide a standardized description of afood's nutritional characteristics whichis accurate and useful.

The need for nutrition labellingbecame evident with the realization ofthe importance of diet to health. In amarket with a complex and changingfood supply, the label provides product­specific information to assist con­sumers in making food choices and toserve as an educational tool. To theextent that it leads to better diets andimprovements in the nutrional qualityand variety of foods, nutrition labellinghas positive health benefits.

The Health protection Branch invitedcomments on the initial proposals fora nutrition labelling scheme in 1983.'In this scheme, nutrition labelling wouldbe optional (except when claims weremade or nutrients added); whenapplied, the energy value, protein, fat,carbohydrate, sodium and potassiumwould be given in all cases with othernutrients declared either voluntarily orin response to a claim. Respondentsrejected the proposals as too complex,most favouring a fully voluntaryscheme. In 1986, the Branch proposedsuch a scheme,2 based on the recom­mendations of an intersectoral workinggroup. The new proposals receivedwide acceptance and consequentlywere adopted with appropriate revi­sions. Since many aspects were at var­iance with existing regulations, exten­sive amendments to the Food and DrugRegulations were required. 3 Theseamendments were published in theCanada Gazette, Part 11 4 on November23, 1988, when the Guidelines onNutrition Labelling 5 were issued.

Guidelines on NutritionLabelling

For consumer recognition, nutritionlabelling is to be displayed with theheading "Nutrition Information", fol­lowed by a statement of the servingsize and the nutritients in a serving. Theminimum nutrient information neces­sary to constitute "nutrition labelling"is the energy value in calories andkilojoules and the contents of protein,fat and carbohydrate, in grams ("corelist").

The serving size is to be given in thesame units, g or mL, as the net quan­tity declaration on the food packageand should also be given in an equiva­lent household measure. For single­serving packages, the serving is equalto the package contents.

The following is an example of nutri­tion labelling for a whole wheat roll:

J. Inst. Can. Sri. Technol. Aliment. Vo\. 22, No. 4, 1989