Welcome to our Summer SIAL Special bonus episodes of The Food Professor podcast, brought to you by our friends at Caddle! In this episode, meet Michi Furuya Chang, Executive Vice President, Public Policy & Regulatory Affairs, FHCP
Welcome to our Summer SIAL Special bonus episodes of The Food Professor podcast, brought to you by our friends at Caddle! In this episode, meet Michi Furuya Chang, Executive Vice President, Public Policy & Regulatory Affairs, FHCP.
As the official podcast for the SIAL Food Innovation show this year in Montreal, Sylvain and I had the opportunity to interview the leading thought leaders, brands, and makers in the food industry. As the saying goes, these are their stories.
Stay tuned for season five of The Food Professor #podcast, debuting August 29th. We'll be back on the mic together live with our particular brand of truth, insight, interviews, custom research from our friends at Caddle, and a little bit of fun!
The Food Professor #podcast is presented by Caddle.
Sylvain Charlebois 00:04
Welcome to our summer SIAL special bonus episodes of The Food Professor podcast, presented by Caddle.
Michael LeBlanc 00:13
As the official podcast for the SIAL Food Innovation show this year in Montreal. Sylvain and I had the opportunity to interview the leading thought leaders, brands and makers in the food industry. As the saying goes, these are their stories.
Sylvain Charlebois 00:27
Stay tuned for season five of The Food Professor podcast debuting August 29th. We'll be back on the mic together live with our particular brand of truth, insight, interviews, custom research from our friends at Caddle and yes, a little bit of fun. On this episode meet Michi Chang, Executive Vice President, Public Policy & Regulatory Affairs, FHCP. We tap into her experience and wisdom and hear what the top issues for food brands are in this country and how her team helps navigate a complex food regulatory system.
Michael LeBlanc 01:09
Michi, welcome to The Food Professor podcast here at SIAL, how are you?
Michi Furuya Chang 01:12
I'm well thank you so much for having me. Michael,
Michael LeBlanc 01:14
Thanks so much for sitting down with us and chitting and chatting. It's a busy show, you're on the stage, you're moving around. This must be fun for you. I mean, you know, you work in the-, in the-, in the-, you work defending or representing the industry and then you come to see it live and living, right.
Michi Furuya Chang 01:31
Yes, I'm a foodie at heart. So being a SIAL show every year is just a great experience. Always great to see the new innovations and what's to come.
Michael LeBlanc 01:42
Fantastic. Yeah, my head's always on a swivel when I'm here because I don't know where to look. There's so much interesting stuff to look at.
Michi Furuya Chang 01:47
Exactly.
Michael LeBlanc 01:48
And it's just a pile of fun. Well, listen. Tell me, tell us, tell our listeners a little bit about yourself and what you do for a living.
Michi Furuya Chang 01:55
A little bit about myself, yes. As I said, I'm a foodie sort of at heart and-, and I think that's really what's drawn me to the food and CPG industry in the first place. I'm also a registered dietician sort of spent my-, my early career in public policy-, public health policy and I guess that's where I cut my teeth, first in government, working in public health, then worked with Sobeys the retailer for several years and then-
Michael LeBlanc 02:25
Kraft, right, then you went to craft, right?
Michi Furuya Chang 02:26
Yes, right. I was at craft for 15 years, before coming to FHCP. So, sort of done the circuit and looking at how can we grow, innovate and compete in this sector and sort of have that 360 view of-, of how we can do that.
Michael LeBlanc 02:43
Now, did you always when-, you know, when you were trying to figure out what you were going to be, were you always interested in science or health or public policy, because you're an interesting mix of all those three, they don't always, you don't find a lot of people who are interested in all three at the same time.
Michi Furuya Chang 02:58
That-, yeah, I guess I hadn't thought about it that way. I think it's-, it's the area that we're in is a perfect marriage of all those things. It's really understanding the creativity that needs to go into good public policy, but also having-, having that science and understanding of the consumer, and-, and marrying all those consumer insights and experiences.
Michael LeBlanc 03:21
And the science behind it, right, because there's a ton of science. So-, you know, as you know, I've worked for Retail Council of Canada. So, I know a bit about advocacy and you know, we-, I always used to say I wonder if you agree with this, that a lot of advocacy is explaining unintended consequences to our political leaders and the civil service. Does that-, does that resonate with you?
Michi Furuya Chang 03:41
Absolutely, you hit the nail on the head and that's really our role as-, as the advocates for the sector and we represent as FHCP more than 80% of what you see on the grocery store shelf in terms of food health and consumer products, manufacturers that are out there and that is exactly it. We are-, we experience such headwinds in terms of regulatory burden and the velocity at which all of this is coming at the industry is-, is-, is increasing and our role is really to speak on behalf of this industry to help our sector and Canada grow and compete and innovate on that global stage.
Michael LeBlanc 04:25
And I know when you talk to decision makers, you're both reflecting the needs of the industry, which is part of-, a big, a huge part of the economy represents such a big wide swath of the economy, but also the consumers as well, right? Because often, as I would and probably you do, you'd frame and say, listen, all these regulations, they add up the cost and if food affordability or product affordability is an issue, you need to be aware of that does that again, does that resonate with you and how you think about it?
Michi Furuya Chang 04:50
It certainly does, Michael and that is one of the things that we in our discussions, negotiations, if you will, with the government is helping them understand how We, how can we marry those issues and at the same time, reduce that regulatory burden and actually achieve the intended consequences. Without the negative unintended consequences at the same time,
Michael LeBlanc 05:12
I want to ask you about your top three files, the things that are taken up the most time or at least, sometimes time doesn't equate to important. So maybe it's more kind of an intersection of those two, but stepping back, and we talk about an increasing regulatory burden, what's driving that in not just our government, but you see that other governments, so what is it that-, that drives that need to have more regulatory? Because there are a lot of different constituencies and lobby groups and people who are pushing in different directions for different reasons, but at a high level, it feels like the trend is more than less from a regulatory burden, is it a trust issue? Is-, are consumers worried and therefore the reflecting that worry to the politicians and the politicians go, okay, let me go crack down-, you know, we were just talking to the gentleman from about honey, and how, you know, honey is one of those products that it's a big fraud issue and on imports. So, what do you think about that?
Michi Furuya Chang 06:07
A few issues at play. One is certainly consumer confusion, which maybe plays into trust a little bit. There's so much information and so many vehicles by which people are consumers are getting that information and it's how do they reconcile all of that and navigate through that. So that-, that is one of the things that we- I think, as government is a shared objective, we're trying to help the consumer make those better and more informed choices. So, the intent at what government is-, is imposing on industry, the intent is good, we just don't believe that there-. it's having the intended outcome, without those unintended consequences and then to your question about what is sort of most important and top of mind, really hard to say, because they're all interrelated, but maybe I could give you a few examples and these are examples that all impact either how our industry makes labels and markets, our products, and there's
Michael LeBlanc 07:06
That's a good categorization, you must have hundreds of file-, individual files, I mean, municipal, provincial, you-, you work at all three levels of government. So, it's pretty massive, right?
Michi Furuya Chang 07:14
Exactly. So, in terms of how we make-, make our products, and what makes it so difficult for-, for Canada to attract that investment is that we have these unique requirements for what a-, a product, any product must contain. Not every food has a recipe that must be followed, but there are certain, what we call, compositional standards of foods and these are unique to Canada. And as such, multinationals or companies cannot market the product, and leverage those economies of scale outside of Canada, or-, and that-, and that one-, or that's one of the things that make-
Michael LeBlanc 07:59
It does create a barrier to entry, though, some would say in other words, does it help or foster the I mean, we're a small country though, but does it help foster domestic-, the domestic industry when-, when you-, you need to develop an expertise in this country's stuff, right?
Michi Furuya Chang 08:14
Exactly. No, you-, you, it certainly deters that investment here in Canada.
Michael LeBlanc 08:19
For good or ill, I guess, right, for good or ill because we see plants closing all the time. Like what was it, Grupo Bimbo just closed the plant and Lévis, right. So that's an-, okay, so, so that's an issue. Sustainability has got to be a big kind of catchment issue, pla-, whether it's plastics or whatever, right?
Michi Furuya Chang 08:35
Yes, and another great example of how we make our products, label our products, package our products and then market them. So yes, from a sustainability perspective, the plastics and then the extended producer responsibility, that being the recycling programs, being different across the provinces makes just getting a product from concept to shelf extremely challenging,
Michael LeBlanc 08:59
Very complicated.
Michi Furuya Chang 09:00
Very challenging.
Michael LeBlanc 09:01
So when I think about also other issues, it's labels and that seems to be a philosophical debate because, you know, many governments would say, I want people to know exactly the health impacts of what they're having, whether that's count of sugar, I mean, our latest thing a little, this is a little this is a lot, everything all the way through to, you know, best before dates, I mean, talk about labeling for a second and where you're headed with that and where your head is at with that or your members actually because you know, you represent your members, yeah.
Michi Furuya Chang 09:30
Yeah, I, so from a labeling perspective, you're absolutely right and we share the government's objective in-, in giving consumers the-, that information that they want and need to make those informed food choices, or product choices. Its food, health and consumer products. So how-, giving them the information and the tools to help them make those choices for them and their families, but we don't believe that the label has to be the default mechanism by which That information needs to get to consumers. So yes, basic information, allergen information, needs to be available at point of purchase, but there's so much more that can be said about a product, maybe its benefits, and that can be delivered in other ways. Our package of real estate is really challenged right now, every time the government comes out with a new policy or regulatory initiative, there's a label impacted.
Michael LeBlanc 10:26
A couple of languages already, it's very crowded, you know, you're trying to, you know, just trying to get somebody to pick an item off a shelf, but it's, you got a lot of stuff on there.
Michi Furuya Chang 10:33
Exactly and at the same time, we're trying to meet the objectives of Environment Canada, so a competing of objective to reduce the size and amount of packaging that we use. So we as an industry are trying to meet the objectives to competing, sort of-
Michael LeBlanc 10:48
Giants, two competing giants. And then you've got, you know, packaging for direct to consumer, I think there's some real innovation happening and like, listen, you can't sell the same product format. If you're shipping it to the home, you should, you know, but you need volume, I want to get back to something you said that got me thinking about it and I think about it a lot is the impact of social media and, you know, with AI, this is just getting worse. It's like the end of truth, basically and how do you-, how do you and your members think about that? Because it-, I feel like there's an onslaught of-, of nonsense coming from the platforms. We know that to be the case that happens in all, not just in and around food and how do you fight back against that? Do you guys have a social media emphasis, and you know, it's influencing people who influence-, as you said earlier on you these, these, these misunderstandings, or these just plain wrong stuff, you know, and people are putting that out for their own, I want more views. So I'm gonna say some ridiculous stuff and that's what I believe, rightly or wrongly, how do you guys get your head around that, how do your members think about that?
Michi Furuya Chang 11:49
And you know what? You could have set me up better to sort of amplify this notion around labeling and finding other means, if we could come as an industry, and government come to sort of an understanding about what digital platforms might be able to be leveraged to provide that trusted education for consumers, helping them navigate through that social media noise, and differing sort of messages, if we could actually find a digital platform that we could use to be that vehicle for information. We do see tremendous power in digital-, digital platforms, we're agnostic to what digital platform it might be, but finding those ways to get that information and leveraging that technology.
Michael LeBlanc 12:38
Now, as you look across the world, and you look for examples of countries or municipalities that are doing it right, and you say, hey, these, this district is doing a great job could be us could be Alberta could be a province and then when you're having your conversations, any countries, or places jump out at us that we should-, that you look to, and that we might turn our heads to and say, I think they got it figured out?
Michi Furuya Chang 13:01
Yeah, I think that depends on-, on-, on what space one is looking at, I think if I were to, again, just build on this digital labeling concept, the United States and Europe is really leveraging it in really powerful ways and effective ways. That being the most important when it comes to-, to making products I'll use, it's-, it's a very specific product, but it's a product I think that many Canadians can relate to because we were in a shortage situation for the-, for the last couple of years in this that's infant formula.
Michael LeBlanc 13:40
Sure, sure.
Michi Furuya Chang 13:41
If we could look to other jurisdictions and recognize the-, the science, frankly, that has gone into that and if we could embrace that here in Canada, if the government would understand that, we would have much more choice and availability of product here in Canada and that would be to prove ourselves.
Michael LeBlanc 14:00
Doesn't that feel like an easy win for-, like for all of us, like for governments, for everybody? Does it feel like an easy win, it's like mom's not able to feed their babies, isn't this the fundamental nature of what government should be doing? Like I don't, I don't understand-. I understand what happened in the States, which is a bad example, too much consolidation. One plank goes south and now you've got a big problem, right? I don't know it-, maybe another time, we'll get you back on-, on the mic, we should have a panel, like how did we get here in that product, is to me a little baffling, but-
Michi Furuya Chang 14:32
Yes, and to your point, I guess I would be remiss if I didn't say we've managed to collaborate with-, with government and we are going to see in the coming months, an opening up of the Food and Drug Regulations for that specifically-
Michael LeBlanc 14:47
And it was a packaging issue. They're like, well, we can't bring this stuff up from Europe because it doesn't say X, Y and Z and-
Michi Furuya Chang 14:51
Yes.
Michael LeBlanc 14:54
Moms can feed their kids anyway, it's a little baffling to me, but anyway, we digress. Let's talk about, last question, what's next for you? I mean, you're-, you're here at the SIAL show.
Michi Furuya Chang 15:04
I'm really excited to-, to walk the floor. A lot of interesting products, and there was a demonstration of some foods from Italy.
Michael LeBlanc 15:14
Did you see that with the guy singing opera and cooking food?
Michi Furuya Chang 15:16
Yes.
Michael LeBlanc 15:17
Come on. Imagine that recruiting, right? You need to be able to cook well, explain food and sing opera and then you'll get the gig, right, are you-, are you, like, is there a type of food that you kind of gravitate to when you-, when you eat?
Michi Furuya Chang 15:30
I do gravitate towards Italian, but really, I will, I will try anything once, as I am a foodie through and through.
Michael LeBlanc 15:39
Well, you're a great ambassador for your members and your brands and thank you for the work you do representing the industries of the government. So that's-, that's it. Thanks for joining us on The Food Professor podcast, real treat to meet you and just talk about this issue. I think it's vital for our listeners and keep doing great work and continued success.
Michi Furuya Chang 15:56
Likewise, thank you so much. Pleasure to be here. Thanks, Michael.
Sylvain Charlebois 16:00
Thanks for tuning into our summer SIAL bonus interview series. Michael and I will be back live on the microphones together in late August. I'm The Food Professor, Sylvain Charlebois.
Michael LeBlanc 16:13
And I'm Michael LeBlanc, media entrepreneur, consumer growth consultant and keynote speaker. Safe travels everyone, see you back in August.
Sylvain Charlebois 16:23
Take care.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
product, labeling, food, government, consumers, Canada, industry, work, issue, Michael, leveraging, digital platform, regulatory burden, head, public policy, cl, unintended consequences, country, represent, meet