Ms. Maya Villeneuve graduated from the Université de Montréal in nutrition in 2000. Soon after, she joined the Bureau of Nutritional Sciences of Health Canada as a Nutrition Research Officer where she worked on several Provincial Nutrition Surveys. She then headed the Nutrition Survey Section in the same Bureau where she led the Health Canada team responsible for the development of nutrition content for the Canadian Community Health Survey – Nutrition (CCHS 2.2) and the Canadian Health Measures Survey. In 2010, she became the Associate Director in the Bureau of Nutritional Sciences where she provides scientific and policy advice on files such as the Healthy Eating Strategy as well as lead international files such as the Codex Alimentarius. Ms. Villeneuve is currently the acting Director in the Bureau of Nutritional Sciences where she oversees activities related to the premarket assessment of foods, such as infant formula, policies and regulations related to the nutritional quality and safety of foods and, nutrition research and surveillance. She is also a member in good standing of the Ordre professionnel des diététistes du Québec.
As the federal leads on standard setting and policy development related to public health nutrition and the nutritional quality of the food supply, Health Canada’s Office of Nutrition Policy and Promotion and the Bureau of Nutritional Sciences will provide updates on their new and ongoing initiatives. Work is continuing to advance the Government of Canada’s priority, the Regulatory Review Roadmap and initiatives under the Healthy Eating Strategy. Some of the current activities include working with academic experts to develop surveillance tools to measure adherence to the 2019 food guide and working with partners and stakeholders to help integrate the food guide in different policies and programs and to stimulate changes in food environments. In addition, we are developing a regulatory framework for clinical trials for foods to a special dietary purpose and making changes to the Food and Drug Regulations to establish regulations for supplemented foods.