Food guide changes could hurt agriculture: Shipley

Lambton-Kent-Middlesex MP Bev Shipley is worried the federal government may change the Canada Food Guide to focus on more plant-based nutrition.
Shipley was in Petrolia Saturday for the National Farmers’ Union annual meeting.
He told the group while the discussions are preliminary, it appears the government may suggest in the food guides that consumers should look at plant protein and fats instead of animal fats and protein. That worries him. “Dairy products have always been a separate component of Canada’s Food Guide because of the value it brings to our diets,” he says adding a shift to plant protein and fats will “have a dramatic effect” on all farmers since much of the grains in southern Ontario are grown to feed animals. “This is not just a dairy issue or a beef issue, it is an agriculture industry issue because it touches all our systems.”
Shipley is the vice-chair of the agriculture committee and hopes to convince the federal government to move away from the concept. The first guidelines for health care providers and industry will be released this year.