Lois Berrigan found that when she approached her local Sobeys store about providing some of the foods familiar to the people she was serving at the St. John’s Association for New Canadians.  Then just a small store, the manager agreed to stock specifically requested items.

Access to things like samosas, okra and a range of Halal products makes a big difference for new families, and to keeping these much needed members of the work force.  “Food is familiar.  It’s a little piece of home,” says Berrigan.  “It’s like Newfoundlanders with their salt beef.  If you went to Florida and someone invited you over for salt beef dinner, you’d think you had it made.”

Sobeys has seen the benefits too.  “The international aisle has become a key piece in the innovation and the new offering we have in the newly built stores,” says spokesperson Cynthia Thompson.

Dozens of Atlantic stores have expanded international food offerings due, in part, to demand from new Canadians settling in Atlantic Canada.

The rapporteur, Olivier De Schutter, has just wrapped up an official trip to investigate hunger and poor diet across Canada.

He says he has severe concerns about the ability of families on social assistance and aboriginal peoples to afford a balanced diet.

He is also struck by the high rates of obesity linked to poor diet, which costs the public health system dearly.

But Immigration Minister Jason Kenney says the United Nations is wasting time and money and undermining its own reputation by sending someone to investigate one of the wealthiest countries in the world while people are starving in developing nations.

The amendments would create two new tools, “Marketing Authorizations” and “Incorporation by Reference,” that Karen Proud, vice-president, federal government relations for the RCC in Ottawa, says could significantly benefit retailers–particularly those that create private-label brands–in their efforts to bring revamped products to market.

Proud says the tools would significantly streamline the regulatory process for incorporating an approved additive, vitamin or mineral nutrient in a product, or approving a new health claim on food.

Citric acid, for example, is commonly used as a food additive to adjust food acidity in everything from canned pears and canned bean sprouts to canned mackerel.

Over the past 12 years, Health Canada has received numerous requests to approve its use in products including canned peaches, canned beans, canned apples and frozen squid–each one requiring an amendment to the Food and Drug Regulations, some of which took years to go through.

Adopting the amendments, says Proud, could significantly reduce the amount of time needed to approve such proposals.

“If a company comes up with something that’s good, that’s safe, that’s going to make things better, it can get it to market more quickly,” says Proud. “The consumer benefits from being able to have access to that product as quickly as possible.”

The “Incorporation by Reference” would allow regulators to refer to accepted standards when introducing product innovations.

Again, this would expedite the process, although the RCC is more guarded in its support of this particular initiative.

We’re happy that they have the flexibility, we’re just suggesting they have enough governance around it, that industry is consulted and they’re incorporating well accepted, scientifically valid standards, says Proud.

Whether they’ll actually do so is another matter.

CIBC and Rogers Communications (owner of Canadian Grocer) announced a partnership Tuesday that will harness the Near Field Communication technology built into newer BlackBerrys, allowing the phones to act like a credit card at checkout.

The technology will work exclusively with CIBC credit card accounts and BlackBerrys on the Rogers network at launch, which is tentatively scheduled for “later this year.”

“Some people might not carry a wallet but they’ll always have their smartphone,” said David Williamson, senior executive vice president of retail and business banking for CIBC.

But consumer surveys suggest Canadians may not be all that keen on the notion of a digital wallet.

New research released Tuesday by Google suggested Canadians are lukewarm on the idea of using their phones to make online purchases. After speaking with 1,000 Canadian smartphone users, only 20 per cent said they had made a mobile purchase and only 16 per cent said they expected to boost their mobile shopping in the following year.

Meanwhile, a Mastercard research project called the Mobile Payments Readiness Index ranked Canada as the second-best of 34 global markets in terms of being set to embrace mobile transactions (Singapore ranked first).

But while Canada ranked high for its partnerships between banks and governments, and its business and regulatory environments, it was below average when it came to the consumer readiness metric.

Mastercard estimated only about 15 per cent of Canadian consumers were willing to use a mobile phone to pay in stores, which was two percentage points below the global average.

But Ian Shelley, a partner at KPMG, believes that figure is probably low-balling Canadian interest in the technology, which is sure to grow as word about it spreads.

“The 15 per cent number is really just the tech-savvy individuals who have kept up with the mobile payments agenda,” said Shelley.

“But once these sorts of announcements come up I think you’ll see much greater adoption.”

Adam Chow, 20, said the only thing holding him back from trying out the technology is his choice of phone, Apple’s iPhone. While CIBC said it would eventually make other phones compatible with its mobile payment system, probably starting with Google Android models, the latest iPhone doesn’t support NFC.

Chow could imagine wanting to pay with his phone, since he’d probably have it in his hand anyway while waiting in line.

“It’s quick, right, you have your phone in your hand, just wave it and the purchase is done.”

But it may be more difficult to sell the technology to some consumers early on, before the functionality is fully fleshed out,“ Shelley said.

“What makes this attractive for me today? Because I do have a wallet and it works quite well,” said Shelley when asked to predict consumer reaction.

But he said it probably won’t be long before other banks and credit card companies, as well as loyalty card programs, get involved.

Williamson admitted he’s anxious to see that happen.

“I’ve got two inches of cards for car rental places, hotel loyalty cards–this, that and everything kind of cards–so if I could put those on the phone, I could get rid of the ridiculous number of cards I carry,” he said.

“I’d be all over that.”

And don’t be surprised if digital government ID cards become a reality in the not-too-distant future, Shelley added.

The final report of the Task Force for the Payments System Review, which was commissioned by the federal government, called for a safe, secure form of digital ID to be created.

“Propel the build of a digital identification and authentication (DIA) regime to underpin a modernized payments system and protect Canadians’ privacy,” reads a recommendation in the report, which notes that federal and provincial governments have been proactive on digital ID talks.

“Thinking about the credentials you have in your wallet,” Shelley said, “pretty much any of them can go away.”

CIBC shares closed down 13 cents to $71.54 on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Tuesday while Rogers shares closed up 38 cents at $35.88.

So far in fact, that if all the world’s residents lived like a typical Canadian, about three and a half planets like Earth would be needed to support their demands on natural resources.

That’s the statistic found in a report released by the World Wildlife Fund Tuesday.

The “Living Planet Report” says Canada has the eighth largest ecological footprint per person in the world. The footprint is based on the demands a country’s residents place on natural capital.

Qatar leads the list followed by Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Denmark. The United States ranks fifth, followed by Belgium and Australia. The Netherlands and Ireland round out the top 10.

“Our ecological footprint is way beyond a sustainable level,” Steven Price, WWF Canada’s conservation science director, told The Canadian Press.

“By not dialling that footprint down, we are jeopardizing our future descendants’ ability to enjoy a comparable lifestyle, because we’re eating away at their natural capital.”

The report has been published every two years since 1998. It describes the changing state of global biodiversity and the pressure placed on Earth from human consumption of natural resources.

In its latest edition, the publication says biodiversity has declined globally by about 30 per cent between 1970 and 2008 while demands on natural resources have gone up. Areas of high biodiversity are important, the report explains, because they provide important ecosystem services such as carbon storage, fuel wood, freshwater flow and fish stocks.

With the emphasis on ecosystem services, the WWF is trying to drive home the point this year that a large ecological footprint doesn’t just threaten wildlife, but also undermines nature’s ability to provide basics like clean air and fresh soil, which are often taken for granted.

“We’re trying to make an economic point and a vital human survival point,” said Price. “(Our ecological footprint) is actually undermining our own life support system that we use to sustain ourselves.”

The organization argues that Canada has an opportunity as a resource-rich country to protect the future by valuing the natural capital that is at the core of its economy and identity.

“To maintain our lifestyles we consume enormous and wasteful amounts of energy and goods,” said Price. “We believe we can dial that down greatly without undermining our livelihoods or health or our education and the other benefits that we enjoy.”

The way to do that, the organization argues, is for governments to employ conservation policies, alongside development projects, which will protect the country’s landscapes and reduce the use of fossil fuels over time.

On an individual level, Canadians should try to reduce their overall energy use and make greener consumption choices when they can, said Price.

That could be as simple as walking to the grocery store instead of driving and buying a green-certified product once there.

“We can actually live a better and healthier life by consuming less and more wisely,” he said.

The WWF report’s Canadian statistics don’t come as a surprise to at least one sustainability expert.

“As a rule, we use more water and we use more energy than most other countries per capita,” said University of Ottawa professor Andre Potworowski.

“There’s very little incentives or encouragement to use less.”

Part of Canada’s high energy consumption, Potworowski explained, comes from the country’s harsh climates, vast distances and the fact that it has large energy deposits of its own.

But while the country certainly could be using a lot less energy, and has the technology in place to do so, there isn’t any push from the government to do so, he said.

The Conservative government recently rolled a number of new environmental provisions into the federal budget implementation bill, sparking criticism that there will be a narrowing of public participation on environmental policy.

It is also in the process of abolishing the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy, the federally funded advisory group formed to give advice and research on sustainable development.

Ottawa has a 2020 target to reduce emissions to 17 per cent below 2005 levels and has said it is committed to tackling climate change, but a recent audit of government regulations has shown reaching that target will be unlikely.

“We live in a political climate where environmental priorities are significantly scaled down,” Potworowski said. “There’s no political will and there’s no popular will to scale our environmental footprint down.”

Alliance Grain Traders said this week that its plans to build a $50-million pasta-processing plant in Regina are on hold.

The company wants to time to monitor developments in the North American grain industry, including the end of board’s monopoly and the proposed sale of Regina-based grain handler Viterra.

Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz says in an email to The Canadian Press that many reasons, including global economic instability, have made it difficult for industry to grow.

But he adds the government is pleased that Alliance Grain has committed to having shovels in the ground in 2013.

The plant was announced last fall with great fanfare as Prime Minister Stephen Harper stood in a pulse processing facility in Regina.

The World Health Organization’s tally of the latest global health statistics for the first time includes a look at blood pressure and glucose levels, two of the risk factors for diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Among the findings released Wednesday were that 29.2 per cent of men and 24.8 per cent of women have high blood pressure, while 9.8 per cent of men and 9.2 per cent of women have raised fasting blood glucose levels.

Officials in charge of compiling the yearly snapshot of statistics from 194 nations for the U.N. health agency say rich nations have exported some of their disease risk factors to the developing world.

Dr. Ties Boerma, director of WHO’s health statistics, said tobacco use, unhealthy diets and physical inactivity “are no longer diseases of just affluent countries.”

But the spread of smoking and a taste for fast, processed and salty foods is also hitting populations that are living longer.

“Globalization, urbanization and aging populations are spreading around the world, so four out of five deaths due to the so-called diseases of affluence are in low and middle-income countries,” Boerma said. “It’s also being a victim of your own success.”

Colin Mathers, who co-ordinates WHO statistics on mortality and disease, says obesity is “rising everywhere” even as many children lack enough to eat. WHO says in its latest report that child malnutrition remains the underlying cause of an estimated 35 per cent of all deaths among children under 5 years old.

But there’s good news too, say Boerma and Mathers.

Boerma cited “major progress” in fighting infectious diseases and malnutrition, as the proportion of children in developing countries who were underweight has declined to 18 per cent in 2010 from 29 per cent in 1990.

The number of women who died during childbirth declined 47 per cent over the same period to 287,000 deaths in 2010, down from 543,000 in 1990. That’s a drop of 3.1 per cent a year on average.

The mortality rate among also children declined 35 per cent between 1990 and 2010, WHO says. Still, almost 20 per cent of deaths in children under the age of five–mostly from pneumonia and diarrhea–are preventable by vaccines.

The chef, his wife and their two teenage sons are eating for a week on the equivalent of a food stamp budget in protest of potential cuts pending in Congress to the benefit program used by more than 46 million Americans.

That’s $31 per person for the week, or about $1.48 per meal each.

Goodbye restaurants, free nibbles on his talk show “The Chew” and all the luxe offerings at Eataly, the high-end New York City market he co-owns. Hello Trader Joe’s, Jack’s Dollar Store, Gristedes and Western Beef, a low-cost supermarket chain.

“I’m (expletive deleted) starving,” said Batali, who’s on the board of the food relief agency Food Bank for New York City, which issued the challenge to celeb pals like Batali and anybody else who wants to know what it’s like.

Batali said his first reaction when asked to join was a big “gulp,” then he realized while shopping for Friday’s start of the challenge that with a little forethought it wouldn’t be all that brutal.

One lesson: forget organic and anything pesticide- or hormone-free. “The organic word slides out and saves you about 50 per cent.”

So what’s on the Batali menu through Thursday? Lentil chili with onion, water and cumin was one dinner that came with a complaint from his wife when he bought two bags of lentils instead of one, until he convinced her the extra cost would mean cheap eats for the next day.

“Rice and beans is in my lunch every day,” Batali said. “We got a bag of mini gala apples for $3. We bought a pork shoulder roast for $8 and got two and a half meals out of it. I got a whole chicken for $5, but it was spoiled so I had to return it and got a $7 chicken instead. They were out of $5 chickens.”

Convenience also has been sacrificed, like the afternoon his boys, 14 and 15, were running late and the family really wanted to grab hot dogs before a basketball game but couldn’t.

His kids are doing well and didn’t have to be dragged into what Batali described as less of a publicity stunt and more of a conversation starter about what it means to be hungry in America today.

“They’re having more peanut butter and jelly than they’ve had in the last 10 years because bread is inexpensive and peanut butter and jelly, if you buy it at the right place at the right time, is cheap,” Batali said.

Also, the boys are eating school lunch, as those in low-income families do for free.

The Batalis have been joined on the weeklong challenge by wholesale meat purveyor Pat LaFrieda, who has a new Food Network series, “Meat Men,” Margarette Purvis, who heads the food bank, as well as more than 200 others who registered to complete the challenge. And anti-hunger groups in Las Vegas, Philadelphia and parts of Maryland and Ohio have led similar challenges over the last several months.

“Nearly 3 million New Yorkers have difficulty paying for the food they need,” Purvis said. “They live in every single neighbourhood. We’re not trying to compare the food stamp challenge to the very real challenges people face. We’re just trying to raise awareness that it’s no longer just the homeless. It’s working families who use the food stamp program. It’s seniors. It’s a lot more children, in every single neighbourhood.”

Any surprises for the chef?

“I thought spare ribs were cheap,” Batali said. “Spare ribs this week are $5.95, so I’m making pasta sauce with two pork chops that were $1.39 a pound. It won’t have as many bones to chew on but it’ll have more edible meat, which at the end of the day is probably a better deal.”

Batali has taken his challenge to “The Chew,” where he and his crew will be chatting all week about eating on less.

“We, hopefully, aren’t pretending or being like a bunch of yuppies saying, ‘Oh yeah, this is how you can do it. Look, we can grind our own oats!’ We want people to think about calling and talking to their representation about cuts to the Farm Bill and the food stamp program,” he said.

Subsisting on food stamps, especially when food is made from scratch, is doable, he said, “as a way to live, but certainly not as a way to thrive. You can always have pasta with tomato, but that’s not thriving.”

“All year long we need to be really careful about how we manage food, how we handle food, from cleaning, separating, cooking and chilling,” Dr. Robin Williams, associate chief medical officer of health for Ontario’s Health Ministry, said in an interview.

“Now clearly when you move into the warm weather families get more relaxed at all levels. We move outdoors, perhaps we put things out on counters a little earlier than we should or we leave them sitting out in the sunshine because we’re enjoying a barbecue in the backyard.

“We don’t have to worry about leaving our groceries in the car in the chill of January, but you need to change your thinking when you come to June, July and August.”

The result of improper handling or preparation of food can be a nasty bout of food poisoning. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency estimates there are about 11 million cases of foodborne illness in Canada every year.

To avoid having illness haunt you or your guests after a party or other event, just remember four key points: clean, cook, separate and chill, said Williams, who is based in Toronto.

Cleanliness when handling food is paramount.

“Your hands need to be clean, the things that you cook with need to be clean, you need to make sure the surfaces you’re working on are clean,” said Williams.

Soap and water are perfectly good for washing hands, Williams said. Hand sanitizer is fine too _ “whatever is easier.”

Sanitize countertops and use separate cutting boards for anything that can cross-contaminate, such as poultry, raw meats and fish. When defrosting them in the refrigerator, put a plate underneath so they don’t drip onto anything else.

Cook food thoroughly at the correct temperatures. Most food poisoning happens when people eat food that contains harmful bacteria, viruses or toxins. You may not see, smell or taste them, but harmful organisms can multiply rapidly in the danger zone between 4 C and 60 C (40 F and 140 F).

“Don’t get too relaxed and leave things sitting out either in the sun or on a counter while you’re trying to assemble the family,” said Williams. “Anything out on a counter for more than two hours needs to be refrigerated or dispose of it.

“If you leave the potato salad out all afternoon, you know what? Bye, bye.”

And don’t give it to your pets either. They also can get ill.

After grocery shopping or when you’re on the way to the cottage or a party, keep food cool and refrigerate it as soon as possible after arrival.

Marinating should be done in the refrigerator and marinade should be tossed after use.

Anyone is susceptible to food poisoning, but young children, pregnant women, people over age 60 and those with compromised immune systems may be more at risk based on other illnesses or treatments.

Signs of food poisoning include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fever and stomach cramps. In serious cases, certain types of food poisoning can cause the victim to have trouble swallowing or breathing, double vision and nervous system problems like paralysis.

Onset of symptoms can vary.

“With some kinds of food poisoning it can be two to four hours, with other kinds it’s eight to 12 hours and with others it can be days,” she said.

In general, mild flu-like symptoms are probably going to be underdiagnosed, Williams said. But in cases where there is extensive diarrhea or blood in the diarrhea, people usually consult a health-care professional.

“If it’s a disease of significance where there might be a contaminated food product that you’ve brought into your home that we need to sort out and trace back, then that’s where public health becomes involved,” said Williams.

Your grilling equipment should also be clean and well maintained.

Before firing up your barbecue for the season, grilling specialist Ted Reader advises cleaning out particles, dust and cobwebs that may have built up over the winter. Remove grates and clean thoroughly with soap and warm water. Clean burner ports to ensure they’re free of dirt and rust.

“There are many safety elements that most folks forget to check, and can potentially be very dangerous,” Reader said in a release.

Here are some more tips from Reader to ensure a safe barbecuing season:

Check that connections are tight and that there are no leaks. You can brush a mixture of soap and water onto the connections and hoses (a 50/50 mix) and any rising bubbles will indicate a leak.

Rusty, damaged propane tanks should be replaced.

Position your grill in an open area away from enclosures and overhangs for ventilation and safety reasons.

If a grease fire occurs, turn off burners and fuel source, close the lid and let the fire burn out on its own. You will know it’s a grease fire if you see billowing black smoke and large orange flames. Baking soda is also a good option for controlling a grease fire.

If you burn yourself, run the affected area under cool water for five minutes. If your burn is serious (charring, blistering) seek medical attention immediately.

Williams also advises not breathing in any smoke wafting from the barbecue as that can carry dangerous particulate matter.

“Celebrating life, celebrating family, those are so important for family development, early childhood development, all those things. I’m a pediatrician by background and I care deeply about that,” she said. “

“On the other hand we need due attention to safety, food safety, accident prevention and that includes barbecue, barbecue burning, falls.”

According to a Toronto Star report, council would instead encourage major Toronto retailers to donate bag fee proceeds into a program that preserves the city’s tree canopy.

The 2009 bylaw has helped curb annual plastic bag use in the city from 457 million bags to 215 million as people switched to reusable bags. As a result, retailers are netting about $5.4 million a year from the fee, says the report.

Executive also asked that retailers prominently display how much of the fee revenue they are donating to the tree canopy program.

(The Star reports that staff estimate only about $270,000 would be raised of the $10 million the city needs annually for the tree canopy, since only a portion of retailers would likely participate.)

The Canadian Plastics Industry Association has said the fee unfairly portrays plastics and its products as an environmental problem and that many retailers already direct fee revenue to charities.

Loblaw, for example, supports the World Wildlife Fund.

David Wilkes, senior vice-president of the Retail Council of Canada’s grocery division, said in the report that consumers appear supportive of the fee.

Even if council rescinds the fee, the mayor agreed that many retailers could continue to charge the five-cent bag tax.