Canada, UN envoy in food fight

The UN food envoy on Wednesday served up harsh criticism of Canada in his first mission to a rich country, pointing to an "unacceptable" level of hunger.

UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food Olivier De Schutter was wrapping up an 11-day fact-finding mission that took him to poor inner-city neighborhoods and remote aboriginal communities that have to fly in food at high cost.

He told a press conference in Ottawa that 800,000 households or up to three million people out of a total population of 34 million in Canada are "food insecure" or "simply too poor to eat decently."