Hon. Céline Hervieux-Payette:

Honourable senators, I would like to begin by assuring the leader of the government that the word "sodium" is the same in English and French. There will therefore be no confusion on the labels.

I would like to remind her that our supermarkets carry more and more prepared food from various food companies and food chains, because of our modern lifestyle with both parents working, among other things.

I always make a point of looking at the sodium content since it is one of the leading causes of high blood pressure in Canada and many people die as a result of that every year. For example, a small slice of Kraft cheese in a grilled cheese sandwich contains 180 milligrams of salt. I was surprised because you would not think that such a small amount of food could contain so much salt.

Salt is used as a preservative. We need to have expiration dates and warning labels on all products, as they do in France. Often, an American product contains less salt than a Canadian product.

Thus, I agree with my colleague. I am simply asking, as my colleague mentioned, that we adopt similar measures to those in Europe.

In 2012, on the eve of health sector budget reviews, we will have to think about the billions of dollars that are spent on food-related illnesses, and about indicating expiry dates on every product. It is just as important as indicating the salt content. Essentially, a product containing less salt will not last as long and could be hazardous if consumed.

When will the leader's government follow through on the committee's recommendations?

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