The Observatory is pleased to share the third article resulting from its collaboration with l’actualité ALIMENTAIRE, in which the results of the evolution are revealed in six categories of processed foods frequently consumed by Quebecers since 2016.

This month, it’s all about pizza and granola bars.

As for pizzas, monitoring was carried out at the Canadian level in 2022. This monitoring revealed the wide variety of products on store shelves in this category, with a total of 207 pizzas. Pizzas with vegetables and deli meats are now the most common on the market, whereas in 2017, pizzas with deli meats were more prevalent. Although all of the pizzas were high in sodium and/or saturated fat, progress was observed in terms of sodium content, with a 5% decrease.

As for granola bars, a total of 369 bars were listed, representing 59 additional products compared to 2018. There was an increase in the variety of bars with a natural appearance (e.g., labeled as “natural” or “preservative-free”). Interestingly, there was a marked 35% increase in protein content, likely due in part to the growing variety of bars designed for athletes.

Although consumers have turned away from fully coated bars (a 17-point drop in sales), the fact remains that a greater proportion purchased bars would now have the front-of-package nutrition symbol (49% rather than 41% in 2018) for sugars and/or saturated fat.

In short, these data show that despite some improvements—particularly in sodium and protein content—a high percentage of the products studied would qualify for the front-of-package nutrition symbol for at least one of the nutrients. However, purchase data suggest that consumers are eager for more nutritious foods. Quebec food manufacturers therefore have an opportunity to capture a share of this market for improved food products.

To read the full article (French only) : www.actualitealimentaire.com