This inaugural annual report card on food was launched at The Conference Board of Canada’s Canadian Food & Drink Summit 2015 held in Toronto October 26–27, 2015. It compares 43 food performance metrics and considers Canada’s position relative to 16 peer OECD countries in five areas—industry prosperity, healthy food and diets, food safety, household food security, and environmental sustainability. These areas are also the key elements of the Canadian Food Strategy.

The report card strives to offer clear, reliable evidence of food system and food sector performance that can enhance public and private awareness and commitment to action. Canada’s overall grades are “A” in food safety, “B” in healthy food and diets, “B” in household food security, “B-“ in industry prosperity, and “C+” in environmental sustainability.

Next year, the report card will evaluate Canada’s domestic food performance across all 10 provinces, covering the same five key elements. The annual report cards will alternate yearly thereafter between international and domestic comparisons.