An analysis of the development of Canadian food fortification policies: the case of vitamin B.

The concept of fortification, or the deliberate addition of synthetic vitamins to food, arose for the first time in Canada during the 1930s. The availability of new technology introduced a debate over the merits of food fortification as a tool to improve the nutritional health of the population. Through the use of two case studies, vitamin B(1) (thiamin) in the 1930s and vitamin B(9) (folic acid) in the 1990s, this paper examines the development of Canadian policies on food fortification.

Do healthy food baskets assess food security?

Developing indicators to measure the different facets of food security presents numerous conceptual and methodological challenges. This paper adopts an ecological framework to reflect on these issues through an examination of the Healthy Food Basket (HFB) tool. The HFB tool is used to measure food security conditions by determining the cost and availability of a group of foods in a shopping basket across a range of stores in different regions and neighbourhoods.