Here’s a place to go for reliable answers about food

ALTHOUGH THE USA HAS given us Donald Trump, it’s also given us a lot to be thankful for, including a free, science-based information source called Best Food Facts. It can help consumers seeking answers to difficult and complicated food questions that have them worried about what they’re eating.

As of this month, Best Food Facts is being offered in Canada with Canadian sources and Canadian answers. The distinctly Canadian version was launched with 10 experts, including two leading researchers from the University of Guelph, Profs. Alison Duncan and John Prescott. They’ll address human nutrition and animal bacterial disease questions, respectively, from Canadian consumers.

In the U.S., Best Food Facts has been around since 2011. It reaches out to about 200 experts from universities there. Consumers submit a question to BestFoodFacts.org, a researcher is contacted for an answer, the answer is published on a blog post and the post is sent to the questioner. Same here.

The service has caught fire in the States. Two years after its inception, more than 200,000 visitors went to its website, BestFoodFacts.org. Last year, that number soared to more than 800,000. The organizer, The Center for Food Integrity, says traffic is growing exponentially.

Owing to different production practices and legislation between the U.S. and Canada, there can be different answers to some of the same questions posed on either side of the border.

In the U.S., the most popular questions have been about genetically modified organisms (GMOs), glutenfree food, hormones and chemicals in food, organic versus conventional food and the role of food in weight loss and management. Canadian consumers wonder about the same issues.

Ironically, some of the new technologies farmers use to keep their cost of production down and simultaneously rein in the price of food coming from the farm, are the same ones that cause people to worry about safety.

Should they be worried? Experts say the bigger safety concern is how food is stored and prepared. That’s where the overwhelming number of problems arise. Pro-technology groups are fond of saying there’s never been a single case of death or illness related to GMOs, in the 20 or so years they’ve been around. Yet, consumers have been told by antitechnology activists that GMOs are worrisome, and so fear persists.

Unfortunately for farmers, that fear tends to spill over into the entire food chain, unfairly tainting all conventionally produced food with question marks. It also prompts questions about how farmers are expected to feed the growing population without technology.

In Canada, the Best Food Facts service is being coordinated by Guelphbased Farm & Food Care. It describes itself as a unique forum for Canadians to come together with people from the entire food system to have a conversation and find out more about our food and how it’s produced.

“When you Google search what’s on your plate and how it was grown, you deserve to find credible information from Canadian experts,” says the organization’s chief executive officer, Crystal Mackay.

Odds are that the Canadian researchers will grow to be as busy as those south of the border. Mackay wants to see the reach of Best Food Facts in Canada at 150,000 visitors next year. Indeed, in its first month, it’s already fielded 700 Canadian content questions.

If you’re confused about food – and who isn’t? – go ahead and ask a question.

It’s free, and the answers won’t be hearsay.