Extra lean ground beef and pork will not require labels.Ottawa—The Canadian Cattlemen's Association (CCA) has turned to social media to enlist public support for its campaign against warning labels on ground beef and pork that Health Canada has proposed.CCA has created a website dontlabelmybeef.ca that sets out its misgivings about the proposed label and offers people the ability to send a message to the government and their MP about the issue.CCA says Health Canada is being inconsistent by proposing a warning label on ground beef, which is a natural whole food offering vital nutrients, including fats. At the same time, some highly processed, sugary and high in saturated fat foods like soda, chips and cookies are exempt from Health Canada's labels.It also says no other country has required single-ingredient products like beef to have warning labels. If Health Canada succeeds with its label, Canada will be the only jurisdiction in the world to place a health-warning label on ground meat.Reducing Canadian consumption of ground beef “will not impact Canadians' overall saturated fat intake,” CCA said. “Ground beef is a minor contributor to the overall saturated fat Canadians are consuming. Instead, it will affect the most vulnerable populations, including women and children, who require important nutrients from ground beef.”Conservative MPs kept the issue alive in the Commons. Ag critic John Barlow said, “Grocery costs are up 10 per cent and almost a quarter of Canadian families are skipping meals because they cannot afford food, but the Liberals want to put a $2-billion bureaucratic burden on a wholesome protein, making the food affordability crisis even worse.“Are these misleading and unnecessary warning labels on a single-ingredient, wholesome food really worth the crippling cost to Canadian farmers, businesses and, most importantly, consumers?” he said.Adam van Koeverden, parliamentary secretary for health, said the government is concerned about critically high rates of chronic disease related to poor diets, “including those that are really high in saturated fats, sugar and sodium are primary risks for those diseases.” Labels will help Canadians make more informed, educated and healthier food choices at the grocery store.Richard Lehoux, Conservative MP for Beauce, said “This government continues to add bureaucratic constraints that hinder our international competitiveness. What is the government basing its decision on? When will it abandon the implementation of this ridiculous regulation?”Health Canada said in a statement that average intakes of saturated fat, sugars and sodium remain above recommended limits. “Unhealthy diets with high levels of these nutrients are risk factors for overweight and obesity, hypertension, and chronic non-communicable diseases, such as cardiovascular disease such as heart disease and stroke), some cancers and type 2 diabetes.”The labels will provide consumers with quick and easy-to-use information on foods high in sodium, sugars and/or saturated fat and complement existing initiatives, such as the revised Nutrition Facts table and Canada's Food Guide. “These labels are widely recognized by health organizations as an effective took to help counteract rising rates of diet-related chronic disease.”Extra lean ground pork or beef with 5 per cent or less of its weight as total fat would not require the warning label. However, labels “on high in saturated fat, sodium or sugar would help make the healthier choice the easier choice for all Canadians.”