2011–2012: 1st Quarter

• Nutrition North Canada provided almost $12.1 million in subsidy during April, May and June 2011. This represents 22% of the program's $53.9 million annual subsidy budget.
• The largest amount of subsidy went to bread, fresh 2% milk, frozen meat, frozen potato products, eggs, yogurt, bananas, unsweetened juice (containers of 250 ml or less), fresh meat and potatoes. Together they accounted for 42% of the total subsidy amount. These foods receive the program's higher subsidy level.
• Among the items eligible for the lower subsidy level, frozen pizza, fresh unsweetened juice, diapers, ice cream and frozen combination foods received the most subsidy (accounting for 7% of the total).
• Prescription drugs, vitamin and mineral supplements, whole pumpkins, disposable underwear, plain fresh and frozen pasta, nursing pads and medical devices received the smallest amount of subsidy. Together, they accounted for less than one percent of total subsidy payments. Two factors help explain these results: these products had the smallest shipment volumes of all eligible items and most are eligible for the lower subsidy level.
• The program received subsidy claims for country food shipped from the South. The amount of subsidy provided for these foods was among the smallest for specific items because the volume of shipments to communities was small.
• 91% of the volume of subsidized products was shipped to retailers with a store in the community. These locally-operating stores make the subsidy available to the largest number of community residents as possible since most people shop at the local store. About 4% of the subsidized volumes was shipped to individuals (direct or "personal orders"), 3% to commercial establishments like hotels or restaurants and 2% to social institutions such as schools and day cares.
• Iqaluit, Pond Inlet and Arctic Bay, Nunavut, and Salluit and Puvirnituq, Quebec, received the largest amount of subsidy during the quarter. These communities were at the top of the list either because they received large volumes of subsidized items, they have relatively high subsidy rates or as a result of the combination of these factors.

Data by product category

This table shows the amount of subsidy that was distributed by product category between April 1, 2011 and June 30, 2011, and the weight of the products that were subsidized during this period. Product categories are listed in descending order based on the amount of subsidy; the category that received the highest amount of subsidy is listed first, followed by the category that received the second highest amount of subsidy, and so on.

Product category	$ subsidy	% total $	kg	% total kg
Vegetables and fruit (fresh and frozen)	3,259,995	27%	1,524,822	23%
Meat, poultry and fish (fresh and frozen)	1,831,587	15%	924,113	14%
Milk (fresh, UHT, powdered and canned evaporated)	1,739,599	14%	892,505	13%
Bread and bread products, cereals, crackers, flour and plain fresh and frozen pasta	1,334,642	11%	686,778	10%
Products eligible until October 1, 2012	1,251,034	10%	1,110,691	17%
Cheese, yogurt and other dairy products	745,780	6%	406,128	6%
Unsweetened juice	714,209	6%	359,167	5%
Eggs and egg substitutes	452,221	4%	268,410	4%
Combination foods (fresh and frozen)	367,882	3%	258,199	4%
Cooking oils, non-hydrogenated margarine, lard, shortening, butter, mayonnaise and salad dressing	186,436	2%	144,608	2%
Infant formula and foods prepared specifically for infants	163,911	1%	85,882	1%
Nuts, seeds, peanut butter and other nut butters, tofu and other meat alternatives	44,588	0%	21,078	0%
Non-prescription drugs	4,675	0%	3,940	0%
Total	12,096,558	100%	6,686,320	100%
Note: Numbers may not add up due to rounding. Last modified: 2012-08-09.

This chart shows what percentage of the total subsidy transfer between April 1, 2011 and June 30, 2011 was applied to specific product categories. Because non-prescription drugs received less than 1% of the subsidy transfer this category is not shown in the chart. The chart is based on data in the table above.

Description of this chart: Data by Product Category

The pie graph breaks down the total amount of subsidy spending between April 1, 2011 and June 30, 2011, by categories of eligible products as follows:

• Perishable fruits and vegetables including juice: 33%
• Milk and other perishable dairy products: 21%
• Perishable meat and alternatives: 19%
• Bread, cereal and other perishable grain products: 11%
• Perishable combination foods: 3%
• Margarine, oil and other fats: 2%
• Infant formula and infant foods: 1%
• Eligible until October 1, 2012: 10%

Last modified: 2012-08-09.