Canadians Eating More Fruit
and Fish, Statistics Canada Says

Canadians are eating more fresh fruit and fish but their intake of fats and oils has also increased in the past decade, Statistics Canada says.

Consumption of fish rose to just over seven kilograms per person last year, mainly because of "a wider array of convenient and easy-to-prepare products and a demand for alternate sources of protein," the agency said Thursday. In 1992, consumption of fish was about six kilograms per person. Chef Austin Clement of the Culinary Institute of Canada in Charlottetown, P.E.I., said the training centre for chefs has someone on staff working with the government to develop new packaged fish products.

"It's amazing the types of things that they're coming up with, and the quality has become so high," he said.

"Definitely fish is a hot spot right now."

The statistics also show that fruit consumption rose on average to 72 kilograms in 2002, 19 per cent more than a decade earlier.

"Fresh fruit made up the majority of fruits consumed, especially apples, bananas and oranges," Statistics Canada said.

"Blended traditional and tropical juices have also become more popular over the past decade. Canadians each drank 25 litres of fruit juice in 2002, an increase of more than 24 per cent from 1992."

Vegetables, especially potatoes, remained a frequent choice, in spite of a drop in consumption in 2002 from the year before.

"Each person crunched through an average of 110 kilograms of veggies, compared with 106 kilograms a decade earlier."

Spuds are a favourite - fresh, fried or chipped - and made up 35 per cent of all vegetables consumed in 2002. Each person ate about 38 kilograms of potatoes in 2002 compared with 33 kilograms in 1992.

But some observers are concerned that Canadians consumed more than 23 kilograms of oils and fats last year - up from 16 kilograms a decade earlier.

"The growing use of salad and shortening oils in salad dressings, deep-fried products and other commercially prepared foods fuelled the increase," the report said.

Fat intake has remained about the same since 1998, although it increased considerably during the early 1990s.

"People are eating a lot more hidden fats and oils," said Hal Johnson, host and producer of Body Break, a TV show dedicated to healthy lifestyles.

"They're eating a lot more processed foods than they've ever eaten before."

Johnson suggested shoppers should fill their baskets with the foods that are sold along the walls of the grocery store, rather than the processed items that are on display up and down the aisles.

"Because on the outside it's fruits, vegetables, milk, breads and your meat," he said. "That's essentially where you need to focus your intake."

Johnson agreed that Canadians are definitely buying more fruits and vegetables but he wondered whether they're actually eating them.

"The problem with the vegetable area and the fruit area - they know they should eat them, they take them home, and they don't consume them as much because they go bad often," he observed.

But he noted that "going away from beef does not necessarily mean they're eating healthier."

Consumption of red meat dropped from 28.4 kilograms per person in 1992 to 27.1 kilograms in 2002.

Clement said that 10 years ago, a TV dinner was roast turkey or beef or Salisbury steak.

"Now you can get any kind of cuisine on the earth - only it's packaged in a box for you already to go," said Clement.

Overall, the statistics showed that each person consumed more nutrients compared with a decade earlier.

"Protein levels, with meat remaining the major source, have also risen since 1992."

Reference Source 114

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