Business Brief: Faux Canada

Résumé détaillé

Food watchdog sees non-compliance cases jump, data show

Good morning. Canadian shoppers who turn over a jar of jelly to check where it came from are finding it isn’t their jam after all. Below, more on the rise of “maple washing” in grocery stores.

Also on our watch today: GFL’s takeover rejection, Nvidia’s widening scandal and rising inflation south of the border.

Complaints about maple washing – dressing up food as Canadian when it isn’t – have climbed sharply this year, according to a Globe analysis by Mariya Postelnyak and Susan Krashinsky Robertson of Canadian Food Inspection Agency data.

Of the 675 complaints about origin claims it has received since November 2024, when U.S. President Donald Trump won a second term, the regulator found about 30 per cent had merit.

The data can’t tell us whether shoppers are reading labels more closely or companies are mislabelling more often, but it might be both. The trade war made “buy Canadian” a habit for many households; more than a year and a half later, they’re still checking. That’s dedication! Industry experts see the rise in non-compliance as a sign that companies can’t keep up with demand for Canadian food, partly because domestic ingredients are hard to find, my colleagues write.

Spokespeople for Empire and Loblaw said grocers that stock tens of thousands of products will make signage errors, and that they fix them fast. A Metro spokesperson said the company had checked its records and was “not aware of any warning” from the CFIA.

Some in the industry say Canada makes it harder than it should be to buy Canadian. Products made with mostly Canadian ingredients can lose their “Product of Canada” label because of small amounts of imported inputs, said Kristina Farrell, chief executive of Food and Beverage Canada, whose group wants the rules changed. And when companies source more domestically, costs will often rise.

The industry is pinning its hopes on Ottawa’s new Food Security Strategy, which promises just north of $3-billion over 10 years to build up domestic capacity in areas…

Début de l'article, extrait de The Globe and Mail (Report on Business). Pour lire la suite, ouvrez l'article chez le média.