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History of Food Baskets in Canada
This content was archived on June 24, 2013.
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The National Nutritious Food Basket (NNFB) was first developed in 1974 by the Food Prices Review Board in response to public concerns over increasing food prices. Agriculture Canada (now Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada) was the steward of the NNFB until 1995. Health Canada assumed responsibility for the NNFB in 1997 and subsequently developed the 1998 National Nutritious Food Basket.
Health Canada developed the 1998 National Nutritious Food Basket based on the food purchasing patterns of Canadian households as reported in Statistics Canada's 1992 Survey of Family Food Expenditure in Canada, Nutrition Recommendations, and the 1991 Canadian Nutrient File.
In 2008, Health Canada developed a revised National Nutritious Food Basket to replace the 1998 basket. The 2008 NNFB was designed to take into account recent developments in dietary guidance in Canada, in other words the adoption of Dietary Reference Intakes and the release of Eating Well with Canada's Food Guide in 2007. The selection of foods in the 2008 basket also reflects the most current information on the food choices of Canadians, provided by the 2004 Canadian Community Health Survey Cycle 2.2, Nutrition.
