Day after day, it seems like the cost of food is rising, but more specifically, healthy food, and over half of Canadians have recently said in a poll that this is one of their number one concern today.

In response to this concern and others, Farm and Food Care Canada has launched the Canadian Center for Food Integrity (CCFI)  aimed at growing the amount of information Canadians receive about our food and farming.

Polls taken by the CCFI show that 93 per cent of Canadians are saying they know next to nothing about farming, and this encouraged the non-profit group to educate consumers, helping so they can determine fact from fiction about our food, where it is grown, how it is grown, among other questions.

CEO of Farm and Food Care Canada, Crystal Mackay, tells Rural Roots Canada there will be other focuses as well.

“Where there are gaps are between actual practices and consumer expectations, and working with our own food system partners from farmers through the large food companies,  and retail restaurants to say ‘Ok – this is what we need to do to understand this, and we either have to do a better job of communicating with the public, or be ready to change some practices to meet the expectations,” Mackay said.

She says this division has been in the works for five years.

Mackay says she is very passionate about the need for credible information and knows there are many people out there who think alike on the matter.

“Public demand for transparency keeps increasing for the whole food chain – from farmers through to food companies. We must be more responsive on questions regarding healthy, affordable food and how we produce it.”

With 50 per cent of respondents saying they are not sure if our food system is headed in the right direction, the centre has made it, its mission to set bench-marks in how it communicates with Canadians about farming.

Farm and Food Care Canada combined with the Canadian Center for Food Integrity brings partners from across the country together, and most important, provides credible information for those that are uninformed and would like to learn more.

The study, which polled 2,510 Canadians, was released at the first annual Public Trust Summit in Ottawa, earlier this week.

For more information on the Canadian Centre for Food Integrity click here.