Buy Canadian? Here’s how to identify truly Canadian products

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s “Choose Canada” message came through loud and clear. Even with a 30-day tariff reprieve, many Canadians are committed to buying locally, sharing their favourite homegrown brands on social media and flooding the buy-Canadian website, madeinca.ca, with thousands of new user submissions.

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There’s an issue, though: Figuring out if a product is Canadian isn’t as straightforward as you might expect. “Product of Canada” isn’t the same as “Made in Canada,” though both apply to foods at all levels of trade — whether bulk, wholesale or retail — restaurants and advertising.

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‘Product of Canada’ or ‘Canadian’

“About 10 per cent of all food products are entirely made here, labelled as ‘Product of Canada,’” Sylvain Charlebois, senior director of Dalhousie University’s Agri-Food Analytics Lab, said in an interview with National Post. “We rely on the States for a lot — citrus fruits, processed snacks, even some frozen foods.”

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) considers “Product of Canada” to be the same as “Canadian.” Charlebois sees it as the “gold standard.” If you’re committed to filling your shopping cart with more Canadian food, look for it on labels.

According to the CFIA, companies voluntarily make “Product of Canada” and “Made in Canada” claims. Once they’ve made them, they must adhere to the guidelines.

“Product of Canada” applies when a food product’s primary ingredients, processing and associated labour are Canadian. The minor use of ingredients not typically grown or produced in Canada, such as spices, oranges, sugar and coffee, wouldn’t disqualify a food from bearing the label.

According to the Competition Bureau, non-food items labelled “Product of Canada” must have 98 per cent Canadian content and “the last substantial transformation of the product must have occurred in Canada.”

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‘Made in Canada’

As with “Product of Canada,” companies can label products “Made in Canada” if the last significant step in processing happens here — even if some ingredients are foreign. According to the Competition Bureau, non-food products must contain at least 51 per cent Canadian content.

The CFIA uses pizza as an example. It considers turning dough, sauce, cheese and toppings into one of Canada’s favourite foods as a substantial transformation.

Companies are required to include a qualifying statement with “Made in Canada” claims. For example, a cookie made in Canada using imported flour, oatmeal, sugar and shortening could bear the label “Made in Canada from imported ingredients.”

Let’s say that same cookie was made with flour milled from Saskatchewan grain, Manitoba oats, Quebec butter and imported sugar. The producer could label it “Made in Canada from domestic and imported ingredients.”

‘Prepared in Canada’ and other domestic content claims

Swapping American products for Canadian ones is more difficult for some categories than others.

“Dairy, beef, chicken, pork — Canada produces plenty of these, and supply management keeps them local. Root vegetables like potatoes, carrots and beets are easy to find from Canadian farms, and grains like wheat, oats and lentils are a huge part of our agriculture,” said Charlebois.

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“Anything tropical — bananas, oranges, lemons, avocados, pineapples — those all come from way further south. A lot of packaged snacks and processed foods are also tough because so many of them are made in the U.S. or rely on American ingredients, products ‘Prepared in Canada.’”

The CFIA encourages companies to use “Product of Canada” and “Made in Canada” (with a qualifying statement) to help consumers identify domestic content. However, a raft of other claims are also allowed, including “Prepared in Canada,” provided they’re “truthful and not misleading.”

Examples include coffee beans (which are always imported) labelled “Roasted and blended in Canada,” imported cane sugar that was “Refined in Canada” and food imported in bulk that was “Packaged in Canada.”

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