Why did the Heart and Stroke Foundation develop Health Check?
The Health Check program was developed to meet the needs of healthy Canadians. Consumer feedback indicated that individuals wanted assistance in identifying healthy food products, especially in processed foods where the choices are difficult to make. Any exisiting tools on the market were either too confusing or insufficient to meet their needs. The Heart and Stroke Foundation chose to take a leadership role in developing Health Check as Canada’s only independent third party symbol based program, like the ones that were being run successfully by Heart Foundations in other countries. We recognized that along with health professionals and nutrition experts, we needed to engage the food industry to develop healthier products or reformulate existing products.
