Every product that receives the Health Check symbol must first meet the program's nutrient criteria.  It is Health Check's Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) that develops those criteria. The committee is made up of nutrition experts and dietitians who volunteer their time to the Health Check program.  Spanning the continuum of health services, these members have a background in academia, government and nutrition consulting. 

Their prime responsibility is to establish specific criteria for each food category in the program.  They develop standards in the context of Canada's nutritional guidelines such as the Food Guide, the latest research, and with a focus on overall healthy eating - not just heart healthy eating.  TAC members continually keep abreast of regulatory and scientific issues, evaluate food trends and track similar programs worldwide and incorporate this information into the Health Check nutrient criteria. TAC members also contribute to educational strategies as well as research and evaluation.

Chair, Bretta Maloff, RD, MEd:  Bretta is Director, Healthy Living for the Calgary Health Region.  Her work in health promotion focuses on encouraging and supporting communities to become effective advocates in improving health; promoting citizen participation on issues that impact their health; supporting alliances and coordination on health issues and implementing specific strategies to promote and protect the health of the population.

Fran Berkoff, RD:  Fran is a private practice dietitian in Toronto. She is a nutrition columnist for The Toronto Sun newspaper and Canadian Living Magazine and a co-author of three Canadian best selling cookbooks.

Chantal Blais, RD:  Chantal is Head of the Clinical Nutrition Service at the Clinical Research Institute of Montreal. She is a member of the Ordre Professionnel des diététistes du Québec and a member of the Executive Committee of the Quebec Society for Lipids, Nutrition and Metabolism.

Sharyn Joliat, MSc, RD:  Sharyn is President of Info Access (1988) Inc., a company specializing in computer-assisted nutrient analysis of recipes, menus, product formulations, nutrition labelling and related services to a variety of clients. In addition, she provides consulting services on the implementation of computer systems in institutional food service and dietary departments.

Alison M. Stephen, BSc, PhD : Alison is Head, Population Nutrition Research at the Medical Research Council's Human Nutrition Research in Cambridge, England. Her research interests include the role of dietary fibre and starch in health, dietary intakes of the populations and trends in consumption of fat, carbohydrate and energy.  Alison is formerly the Director of Research at the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada.

Laurie A. Wadsworth, PhD, PDt, FDC:  Laurie is an associate professor of the Department of Human Nutrition at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. She has over 12 years of experience in Public Health.  Her research interests include effectiveness of nutrition communications, effects of mass media use on food choice behaviours and health promotion program planning and evaluation.

Bernard LeBlanc, BSc:  Bernard has 35 years experience with the Federal Government at former Consumer and Corporate Affairs and Canadian Food Inspection Agency as a Food Program Officer specializing in food composition, advertising, labelling legislation and the enforcement of these. This included collaborating in the development and evaluation of policy, guidelines and legislation on food labelling, including health claims.  Bernard is presently self- employed as a consultant to the food industry.