University of Victoria students and staff now can make more informed choices when eating on campus with the implementation of the Informed Dining program in many campus restaurants, announced Health Minister Terry Lake.

The University of Victoria is the first public institution to fully implement the program. As of January 2014, University of Victoria's Village Greens, BiblioCafé, Arts Place, Cadboro Commons Dining Room and other University Food Services' restaurants have full nutrition information for their standard menu items. The Informed Dining program includes more than 1,500 restaurant outlets throughout the province and over 6,000 nationally.

"By becoming an Informed Dining partner, the students, workers and visitors of the University of Victoria have access to more information about the food they order," said Lake. "As the first public institution to enrol in the program, the University of Victoria is leading the way for other universities, colleges and public facilities to provide customers with full nutrition information to help them make informed choices when dining out."

Informed Dining provides customers visiting restaurants in British Columbia with detailed nutrition information for all standard menu items so they can make informed decisions about what they eat. Informed Dining was first launched in May 2012 as part of the Healthy Families BC strategy and is considered the first nutrition information program of its kind in Canada.

"It's important as a university that we provide students with the supports they need to succeed on campus, and this includes providing information to make informed food choices," said University of Victoria associate vice-president of student affairs Jim Dunsdon. "I'm proud of the work of our Food Services team and we are very excited to be rolling out the Informed Dining program at UVic."

Informed Dining was developed in collaboration with the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association, the BC Restaurant and Foodservices Association, the Heart and Stroke Foundation (BC & Yukon), chain and independent restaurant leaders and public-health partners.

"As a dietitian, I understand the importance of making comprehensive, nutritional information readily available to British Columbians," said MLA for North Vancouver-Seymour Jane Thornthwaite. "I applaud the University of Victoria for setting an example for their students and for other public institutions by joining the Informed Dining program."

Quick Facts:

Informed Dining launched in May 2012 with nearly 300 restaurant outlets, now there are more than 1,500 participating restaurant outlets throughout British Columbia.

• Informed Dining is in over 6,000 outlets across the country.
• Participating restaurants must display the Informed Dining program logo and directional statement on their menus or on or near their menu boards so customers know nutrition information is available before they make a menu choice.
• Informed Dining is mandatory for all retail food service establishments in health-authority-owned-or-operated health-care facilities and will be rolled out over the next two years beginning March 31, 2014.
• The Healthy Families BC website offers interactive tools such as sodium sense, shopping sense and sugary drink sense to help inform British Columbians about healthy eating.
• Reducing sodium intake could prevent up to 23,500 cardiovascular events, such as heart attack and stroke per year, and could generate direct savings of $1.38 billion annually in Canada.

Learn More:

Informed Dining/ Healthy Families BC: www.healthyfamiliesbc.ca/home/informed-dining

Media Contact:

Kristy Anderson
Media Relations Manager
Ministry of Health
250 952-1887 (media line)