Marketplace found up to 1 in 3 groceries get labelled as Canadian. Customers say they’re skeptical
To show support for Canada among a commercial war with the United States, John Mackay says that he tries to buy only Canadian products during food runs.
That’s why the 81-year-old from Tillsonburg, Ontario, said he complained with the subway several times after seeing the orange juice with an irrigable pulp-a private label brand owned by the subway-with a red maple leaf next to the price on the shelf.
“Since when are we growing oranges in Canada?” Mackay said, whose house is about 115 kilometers west of Hamilton. “I was pissed off.”
What customers see on the metro website is a red circle with a maple leaf and the words “product of ICI” – which translates into “produced from here” – next to the word Canada, outside the circle. But the website does not contain a clear definition of exactly what it means.
Buyers like Mackay are expressing frustration from Costa to Costa, many writings Market, Question which products are identified as Canadians and those who are actually benefiting from our largest grocery stores using these labels.
To find out how often the grocery stores are products labeled with Canadian symbols, Market Analyzed products sold online in a Loblaws shop, via Voila in Toronto and at Metro.
Market He discovered that a third of Loblaws products was labeled as a prepared in Canada and more than a fifth of products in Voilà were labeled with a Canada shop logo. There were also thousands of metro products listed in the Canada label of that shop.
- This story is the first of a series launched by the CBC market to investigate the questions and concerns of consumers when it comes to how the commercial war with the United States has an impact on the Canadian market. Contact Marketplace@cbc.ca to send any suggestions.
The products listed range from local maple syrup to not so local objects, such as pineapple juice.
Market He shared his results with experts who say that food stores are trying to capitalize on the country’s wave of patriotism, observing that a vague definition of what makes a Canadian product is in the best interest of retailers, not buyers.
“There are all types of opportunities to market somehow misleading,” said David Soberman, a marketing professor at the Rotman School of Management of the University of Toronto.
Metro said Market The “Produit d’Ici” logo has been erroneously added to the items on its Ontario’s web pages and is removed and will simply display the word “Canada”, which means that the product has been produced, made or cultivated here. The company has declared to continually review and update the way it identifies the products.
The Loblaws store has labeled more than 1 in 3 items prepared in Canada
Market Found Loblaws labeled 35 % of all online products as a prepared in Canada.
Michael von Massow, professor at the University of Guelph who studies the economy of food, said that an even higher number of products would be expected to return under the label prepared in Canada that US Loblaws.
“It’s not a truly rigorous standard to meet,” he said.
The CFIA website says that prepared in Canada can be used to describe a grocery object that has been entirely prepared in Canada. This means “managed, collected, preserved, elaborated, tested, well -kept or massacred”.
“There is an advantage in being wider … having a wider definition means that you can label more things and make it easier for things to go to the baskets,” said Von Massow.
Von Madow states that an orange juice bottle, for example, could be described as a prepared in Canada because it could be bottled here or because, if it is a juice with concentrate, a Canadian entity could have added water in the mixture.
Unlike a Canada product, which means practically all (98 percent) of its main ingredients, the processing and work used to create the food product must be Canadian, there is no similar threshold for articles labeled as prepared in Canada.
The three brands with the highest percentage of products tagged with the label prepared in Canada included Schneiders, Liberté and Club House.
Soberman and Von Massow have both said that consumers should also think about how hard standard they want to establish for themselves. Von Madow said that although it was a challenge, at this moment, he tries to buy only products of articles in Canada.
“My wife tells me that I can no longer eat my favorite cereals because it is done in the United States,” he said.
The “Buy Canadian” movement is alive and well in the city. But they are not only the Canadians who refuse to buy American goods or visit the country. Movements in Europe have also sprung up.
Soberman said that customers who try to avoid companies with American properties could find themselves with limited options, given that many Canadian brands have owners south of the border or elsewhere in the world.
For example, Liberté and Club House have Canadian roots, but Liberté is owned by Sodiaal, a dairy cooperative in France, and Club House is owned by an American company, McCormick and Co.
Some brands with a high percentage of products prepared in Canada in the Loblaws position – like Kraft – were not created in Canada, although the brand has His Canadian connections underlined.
In a declaration via and -mail, Loblaws said followed by the Cfia guidelines when they label all the products in its stores. The symbol of the maple leaves in stores means that the object was prepared in Canada. He did not say why he chose that specific online label, but he noticed that some items in stores could also have a label in Canada or produced on the packaging and on the shelves.
“With thousands of products that change continuously, we do our best to keep everything accurate, but sometimes the errors take place”, read Loblaws’s e -mail.
Voila labeled more than 1 in 5 articles such as Canada Shop
In Voilà, an online order of Empire Company Ltd., Sobeys’ parent company, 22 % of the items are labeled with a Shop Canada shop.
The Voilà website says that the articles in that category are “made in Canada by national and imported ingredients”.
When it comes to food, the term made in Canada means the last substantial transformation of the product has occurred in Canada, even if the ingredients are not from Canada, according to the CFIA website.
If the Made in Canada label is used, it must include even if the product is made with imported ingredients.
This, and the fact that the last “substantial transformation” must take place in Canada, are what distinguishes this label from the moniker prepared in Canada.
And unlike the non -food articles labeled in Canada, which require at least 51 % of the product here, the CFIA website does not indicate this threshold for edible products.
Market Even the labeling found on Voilà has not remained consistent.
On March 17, almost 35 % of the products listed on Voilà was tagged with the label of the Canada shop, but starting from March 24, it dropped to about 22 %.
In one and -mail, Sobeys said that his canada shop label is there to satisfy customers’ requests. The company adds its labels to products manually, he said, and occasionally makes mistakes, but tries to repair them immediately. The Canada Shop articles include those who are 100 %Canadian, Canada products or made in Canada.
“Over the past year, about 12 % of sales came from products in the United States and, given our work to find alternatives to US sources, we expect this number to decrease,” Sobeys said.
Mackay said that when he shops now, he is checking all the labels.
Von Massow said he would like to see consistency among the standard food stores that they are using to identify Canadian products.
The grocery stores are not the only ones under control. The Canadian food inspection agency (CFIA) also told the wider food industry in mid -March that she saw an increase in complaints about the statements on labels and food advertising, stating that the labels must be clear and honest.
“This is a reminder that making false or misleading statements about the origin of a food is against the food laws of Canada and can damage consumer trust,” said the agency on March 14.
In one and -mail, the CFIA said Market He received 60 complaints about requests of origin on labels and food advertising from November-Con 54 of those who arrive in February and mid-March. He said about the 19 follow-ups that the agency did, six were not compliant.
The CFIA reiterated that retailers must ensure that the signs and advertisements are not misleading, saying that it takes the labeling problems seriously.
Tips for buyers
Soberman and Von Madow say that buyers should not take on a maple leaf or a Canadian flag next to the products means that the product is completely Canadian.
Both experts also said that buyers should decide what they want to make.
“People have to decide if it is Canadian – or not to buy Americans,” said Von Madow.
If you want to buy Canadian products, he observed, you should consider the standard you want to stick to. For example, shopping for Canada products will probably leave you quite limited enough, while made of Canada or prepared in Canada it offers greater flexibility.
There are, however, Some apps that can help you. The CFIA also said it has a Reference guide AND video to help buyers.
