Features Business Food Safety
It’s time to tighten up labelling rules

May 26, 2008, Beamsville, Ont. –
Food products labelled “made in Canada” will no longer be allowed to
use a substantial amount of foreign ingredients, says Prime Minister
Stephen Harper.

May 26, 2008, Beamsville, Ont. – Food products labelled “made in Canada” will no longer be allowed to use a substantial amount of foreign ingredients, says Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Under current rules, it's legal to call a product “made in Canada” if 51 per cent of the production costs were incurred here and the final transformation of product was in Canada, Harper said as he announced new labelling quidelines.

“The truth is, foods marked ‘product of Canada’ or ‘made in Canada’ actually may not be very Canadian at all,” he said.

“A bottle of apple juice could have a ‘made in Canada’ label in it and be made from apples grown in China. A bar of chocolate might say ‘product of Canada,’ but the cocoa beans could come from the
Ivory Coast.''

Harper said the new guidelines better reflect the origin of goods sold in grocery stores.

Under the new rules, a “made in Canada” label will mean all or virtually all the contents are Canadian in origin, he said.

If the ingredients of the product come from another country, the label would reflect that as well. For example, a label might say “made in Canada with imported ingredients,” Harper said.

“This qualified ‘made in Canada’ label will let shoppers know they are supporting Canadian jobs and the Canadian economy, but also inform them that not all of the contents necessarily come from Canada,” he said.

The new guidelines come from the Food and Consumer Safety Action Plan announced by Harper in December.