OPINION: If consumers want protein, they will get protein
If you have noticed shoppers pouring over food labels in the stories and assumed they were still checking for Canadian- vs. American- made contents, you might be wrong. After all these months most shoppers know what they buy and where it is manufactured and what American brands they positively cannot live without!
What these shoppers are probably looking at is the nutritional list on the side of the packaging. Salt, carbs, fats, vitamins and minerals …and protein.
Last year both Canada and the USA issued new food guides and both have increased daily protein intake in part due to the fact that both food guides have focused on the minimum amount of food contents per day instead of the ideal daily amount from both animal and plant sources.
Daily grams or the percentage of protein are based on you, not an average. Your sex, age, weight, activity level, health and if you are recovering from an illness or surgery, Your weight times the grams of protein per kilogram of weight produces your ideal daily intake.
As protein helps with energy, strengthening the immune system, hair and nail condition, weight loss, building and maintaining muscle and bones and the body’s ability to heal itself, it has become a sales pitch for food manufacturers printing “Contains XXX grams of protein per serving.”
Everyone knows that meat contains protein, including beef, veal, pork, poultry, fish and seafood. They are all standard sources but now with meat prices high and servings getting smaller, shoppers are looking for other protein sources to supplement meats. Other foods have added protein content labelling. Plus, some yogurt might be foods that you never considered as containing protein, such as cereals, soups and sauces. Even the dairy products, milk, cheese, yogurt, butter, cream and ice cream all have protein albeit in differing quantities.
Products that are higher in protein content are now advertising it, such as certain brands of yogurt and cereals. Even baking suppliers are getting into it as our favourite brand of bread now has a “protein” type too.
The dairy powers that be in the P5 group of provinces ( Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island) announced a couple of weeks ago that they are changing the pricing on protein in milk to keep up with consumer preferences effective April 1, 2026. I can not go any deeper into this as I read the announcement twice, my husband read it three times, and neither of us is any the wiser as what is being done and how it would affect our milk cheque.
What will be will be and no doubt some feed company will come up with another additive that will raise milk protein. It will encourage dairymen to push for protein.
What consumers want, consumers will get, one way or another and so, for the next while it will be protein until something else is deemed more important.
Meanwhile don’t forget beans and nuts as protein sources too. Everything counts.
Angela Dorie is an agricultural writer and a Jersey farmer near Cornwall.
OPINION: If consumers want protein, they will get protein
OPINION: If consumers want protein, they will get protein
What these shoppers are probably looking at is the nutritional list on the side of the packaging. Salt, carbs, fats, vitamins and minerals …and protein.
Last year both Canada and the USA issued new food guides and both have increased daily protein intake in part due to the fact that both food guides have focused on the minimum amount of food contents per day instead of the ideal daily amount from both animal and plant sources.
Daily grams or the percentage of protein are based on you, not an average. Your sex, age, weight, activity level, health and if you are recovering from an illness or surgery, Your weight times the grams of protein per kilogram of weight produces your ideal daily intake.
As protein helps with energy, strengthening the immune system, hair and nail condition, weight loss, building and maintaining muscle and bones and the body’s ability to heal itself, it has become a sales pitch for food manufacturers printing “Contains XXX grams of protein per serving.”
Everyone knows that meat contains protein, including beef, veal, pork, poultry, fish and seafood. They are all standard sources but now with meat prices high and servings getting smaller, shoppers are looking for other protein sources to supplement meats. Other foods have added protein content labelling. Plus, some yogurt might be foods that you never considered as containing protein, such as cereals, soups and sauces. Even the dairy products, milk, cheese, yogurt, butter, cream and ice cream all have protein albeit in differing quantities.
Products that are higher in protein content are now advertising it, such as certain brands of yogurt and cereals. Even baking suppliers are getting into it as our favourite brand of bread now has a “protein” type too.
The dairy powers that be in the P5 group of provinces ( Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island) announced a couple of weeks ago that they are changing the pricing on protein in milk to keep up with consumer preferences effective April 1, 2026. I can not go any deeper into this as I read the announcement twice, my husband read it three times, and neither of us is any the wiser as what is being done and how it would affect our milk cheque.
What will be will be and no doubt some feed company will come up with another additive that will raise milk protein. It will encourage dairymen to push for protein.
What consumers want, consumers will get, one way or another and so, for the next while it will be protein until something else is deemed more important.
Meanwhile don’t forget beans and nuts as protein sources too. Everything counts.
Angela Dorie is an agricultural writer and a Jersey farmer near Cornwall.