Analysis

Food available for consumption in Canada – 2008

Fruits – More fruits in the diet
Dairy – More yogurts and less milk
Meat, Eggs and Fish – More chicken on the plate
Cereals – Less wheat but more rice in the diet
Vegetables – Less vegetables in the diet
Sugar – Less maple syrup and honey
Oils and fats – Downtrend maintained
Beverages – More wine and tea
Nutrients – Less calories in the diet

On a per capita basis, the Canadian diet in 2008 included more tea, yogurts, breakfast cereals, berries, processed fruits, asparagus, poultry meat and wine, according to the 2008 snapshot of food available for consumption.

Estimates on food availability have been adjusted to account for losses in cooking, storage and waste that occur in homes, restaurants and institutions while preparing and processing food. Canadian population revisions back to 1971 have been incorporated in this release.

Fruits – More fruits in the diet

Total available fruit -- fresh as well as processed -- rose to 47.5 kilograms (kg) per person, a record high. Fresh fruits in the Canadian diet have remained at the same levels as in 2007.  On the other hand, Canadians had more processed fruits in their diet, reaching 8.8 kg per person, an increase of 7% over the previous year.

Berries, in particular blueberries and cranberries, are becoming more popular. In 2008, fresh blueberries in the Canadian diet were at 0.7 kg, representing an increase of 14% compared to the previous year.  Cranberries have increased to 0.8 kg in the Canadian diet; a 34% increase in comparison to 2007. Raspberries, loganberries, mulberries and blackberries combined have increased by 31% over the previous year to reach 0.5 kg per person. While the Canadian production of these decreased slightly compared to the previous year, the increase of intake in the diet can be attributed to an almost 100% increase in imports. Strawberries remained popular, staying at the same level as the previous year at 2.0 kg per capita.

The increase of processed fruits was mainly influenced by the higher intake of dry fruits. For processed blueberries, there was also an increase of 16% observed in the diet since 2007.

In 2008, oranges in the Canadian diet have rebounded back to levels of 2006 to reach 4.9 kg per capita.  Due to frost damages in the United States in 2007, there had been a lower availability of oranges and a marked decrease in the amount in the diet for the same year. 

Dairy – More yogurts and less milk

Canadians had 5.4 litres of yogurt in their diet in 2008, more than twice as much as they had a decade ago. Yogurt has been steadily increasing over the years, beginning with 0.03 litres in 1960, to reach 2.4 litres in 1998 and 5.4 litres in 2008.

Ice cream has continued its gradual decrease which began 14 years ago.  In 2008, ice cream in the diet has dropped by 12% (0.7 litres) to reach 4.8 litres, compared to the previous year.

Total milk, which includes buttermilk, chocolate milk, standard milk, 2% milk, 1% milk and skim milk, continued its downward pattern that began at the end of the 1980s.  In 2008, Canadians drank 57.7 litres of milk per person, down 12.3 litres from 70.0 litres in 1988. Standard (homogenized 3.25%) milk in the diet dropped by 0.4 litres from 2007 to 2008 marking a decline of 23% from a decade ago. Cheeses still remain popular with Canadians.

Meat, Eggs and Fish – More chicken on the plate

In the last decade, Canadians have increased the amount of poultry meat in their diet by 1.9 kg, while the amount of red meat declined by 3.7 kg.  Poultry meat available for consumption amounted to 13.6 kg per person in 2008, but this was still far short of the per capita level of 23.3 kg for red meat.

Chicken meat is the more popular of the poultry meats at 11.2 kg per capita, while turkey in the diet represents 2.4 kg. Chicken in the Canadian diet has maintained a plateau in the last 3 years while turkey has increased by 6% for the same period.

In 2008, beef, veal and lamb in the Canadian diet decreased compared to 2006 while pork remained slightly above the 2006 level. Beef and veal intake in the diet was at 12.8 kg while pork was at 9.7 kg in 2008.

Canadians had half a dozen less eggs compared to 2006.  However, in the last 20 years eggs in the Canadian diet have remained fairly stable at a level between 11.5 to 12.5 dozens per year.

Total fish in the diet remained stable in 2008 at 6.6 kg per person. Availability of fresh, frozen and processed sea fish increased while shellfish decreased. The shellfish harvest increased by 35% in 2008 compared to the previous year but this extra production was mostly offset by an increase of 29% in the exports and a decrease of 15% in the imports.

Cereals – Less wheat but more rice in the diet

Breakfast cereals were more popular than ever, reaching 4.1 kg per person last year. This represents an increase of 38% from twenty years ago, when Canadians had 3.0 kg of breakfast cereals in their diet.

Rice available for consumption rose by 1.8 kg from 2007 to reach 7.0 kg per person in 2008.  This was, however, offset by a lower intake of wheat flour which fell 2.3 kg to 43.7 kg.  According to the Consumer Price Index, the prices of cereal products such as wheat flour and pasta have increased respectively by 34.5% and 31.9% from 2007 to 2008, which may have had an impact on consumer choices.

Vegetables – Less vegetables in the diet

Canadians ate 79.5 kg of vegetables -- fresh as well as processed -- per person in 2008, a decline of 4.0 kg from 2005. 

Carrots, lettuce, onions and tomatoes, which represented 27% of the Canadian diet of fresh vegetables, decreased by 9% compared to the previous year. Potatoes, on the other hand, continued in popularity, representing 44% of the fresh vegetable diet.

Some exotic vegetables such as asparagus, eggplant, kohlrabi and sweet potatoes are slowly but steadily increasing in the diet. Fresh asparagus in 2008 was twice as much as 20 years ago to reach 0.2 kg per person. Eggplant in the diet, at 0.2 kg, has increased by 60% compared to 1988. Sweet potatoes reached 0.4 kg, three times more than 20 years ago.

Total processed vegetables in the diet remained at the same level as in 2007. In 2008, potato chips and frozen potatoes increased and reached respectively 3.2 kg and 7.1 kg in the diet.

Sugar – Less maple syrup and honey

The availability of maple syrup diminished by 18% from 2007 to 0.1 kilogram. The elimination of the stocks by the province of Quebec, accompanied with a less than average crop year decreased the availability of the maple products.

Honey production was down for a second consecutive year. Poor weather conditions, an increasing amount of winter kill in bee colonies and continuing losses due to varroa mites created a difficult environment for the honey industry. Despite a lower production, there was an increase in exports, particularly to the United States, which came from the sale of large stocks of honey accumulated from previous years. International demand for honey in 2008 increased and Canadian beekeepers benefited from higher honey prices for sales in particular to the United States and Japan, with increased prices of 36% and 41% respectively. Although there was less honey available for consumption domestically, there were large amounts exported.

Refined sugar in the diet increased by 1.0 kg last year to reach 23.1 kg.  This may be in part due to variability in liquid sugar shipments, which can be used as a substitute to high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in soft drinks. The competitive price of liquid sugar in Canada relative to HFCS (domestic and imports) generally determines bottlers’ decisions regarding purchases of liquid sugar versus HFCS. The Food Statistics program does not account for the high fructose corn syrup separately but only through the soft drinks commodity.

Oils and fats – Downtrend maintained

Oils and fats, including butter, salad oils, shortening and margarine, maintained their downward trend last year. In 2008 oils and fats in the Canadian diet reached 18.1 kg, a slight decrease from the previous year (18.3 kg).

Beverages – More wine and tea

With respect to beverages, Canadians aged 15 years old and over drank 15.0 litres of wine per person last year, five times more than they did in the early 1960s. Beer and spirits have remained at the same levels as in 2007, at 77.2 litres and 7.1 litres per person respectively.

Per capita consumption of tea increased to 79.4 litres, which may have been in part due to the antioxidant properties some teas have. The availability of soft drinks adjusted for losses fell from 76.4 litres to 73.2 litres. This decrease is not, however, showing the whole picture about the soft drinks in the diet since high energy drinks and sports drinks are not taken into account in this category.

Nutrients – Less calories in the diet

The total daily intake of calories per person fell to 2,382 calories, a decline of 131 calories since the peak recorded in 2001. This reflects lower amounts of oils, red meats and soft drinks in the diet. 

Get it now!