The future of food: National food policy consultation in Charlottetown

The federal government held the first of six sessions on a the country's firstnational food policy in Charlottetown Wednesday.

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HasanHutchinson, director general of the Office of Nutrition Policy and Promotion with Health Canada, saidthe sessions will let people weigh in on the future of food in Canada.

"This government has made this one of their mandate commitments for the minister of agriculture to put together a food policy," he said.

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Hutchinson said Canada needs a food policy because of the various things that could be affected for theavailability and access to food.

The discussions will include local policy makers, academics and industry representatives.

"And now what we're starting and we're initiating are six different meetings across the country where we're going out and talking to folks about the different sorts of things that we think we should be working on," said Hutchinson. "Are we getting it right or not so we're really getting folks to help us build the policy."

Those who can't attend a session can take part in an online survey until the end of August.

The goal is to have the national food policy released next year.

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