Made in Canada eh?
Do you know that when you purchase a food product that says product of Canada, it does not mean that the food was grown or even processed here in Canada? Sound crazy? Well it’s true.
To advertise food as made in Canada, all that is necessary is that 51% of the production cost was incurred in Canada – that includes the labeling, that box it comes in and the labour costs. As we all know, the containers of prepared food quite often are the larger portion of the end product that we purchase so imagine how easily it is to achieve this requirement. Apple juice is a good example. Canada imports large amounts of apple juice concentrate from China. It is diluted with Canadian water or sometimes with some Canadian apple juice and can be labeled made in Canada. Even product that says is it is made with a specific Canadian apple; the labeling does not preclude the possibility that it also includes imported apple juice and probably does. Most apple juice is advertised as product of Canada, and very little of it is actually made from Canadian apples. Same goes for frozen fish, very little of frozen fish sold here is Canadian caught or farmed fish. As long as the final processing takes place in Canada, the fish can be labeled made in Canada. It may have had some sauce (which is not made from Canadian products) added to it in a processing plant here and packaged here so it can be called product of Canada.
When this law came on the books the bulk of our food products were home grown and so it was not a real issue. Free trade has changed all of that. Canada imports more food than we ever have. We also eat more processed foods then we ever have; the more a product is processed, the more difficult it is to ascertain the origins of the food. We need to have our legislation reflect our current market place. This type of marketing is misleading to the public and inhibits our ability to make informed decisions.
It is also up to us to ask questions when we are shopping, find out where and how the food you are buying is coming from and produced. Support products that promote their products with integrity and that you are comfortable feeding your family. The market place will eventually respond if we are informed and vigilant about our food choices.
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