To show support to Canada in the midst of a commercial war with the United States, John Mackay says he only tries to buy Canadian products during meals.
That is why the 81 -year -old player of Tillssonburg, Ontario, said he has complained with a meter several times after seeing the orange juice with pulp per irrésistible, a private brand private brand from Metro, with a red maple leaf next to the price of the shelf.
“Since when are we growing oranges in Canada?” Mackay said, whose house is approximately 115 kilometers west of Hamilton. “I was angry.”
What customers see on the subway website is a red circle with an arce sheet and the words “Produit d’Aci”, which translates into “product from here”, next to the word Canada, outside the circle. But the website does not contain a clear definition of exactly what that means.
Buyers like Mackay express frustration from coast to coast, many writing in Market, Questioning which products are identified as Canadians and who really benefits from our largest supermarkets that use these labels.
To know how often grocery stores are labeling products with Canadian symbols, Market He analyzed products sold online at One Loblaws Store, through voilas in Toronto and Metro.
Market He discovered that one third of the products in the loblaws were labeled as prepared in Canada, and more than a fifth of Voilà products were labeled with a Canada Shop logo. There were also thousands of subway products on the list of that tag of that store.
- This story is the first of a series launched by the CBC market to investigate consumer’s questions and concerns when it comes to how the commercial war with the United States is affecting the Canadian market. Contact marketplace@cbc.ca to send any advice.
The products listed range from local Arce syrup to articles not as local, such as pineapple juice.
Market He shared his findings with experts who say that groceries are trying to capitalize on the country’s patriotism wave, pointing out that a vague definition of what makes a Canadian product the best for retailers, not buyers.
“There are all kinds of opportunities to make marketing that are something misleading,” said David Soberman, a marketing professor at Rotman School of Management at Toronto University.
Metro said Market The “Produit d’Aci” logo was added by error to the elements on its Ontario websites and is being eliminated and will only show the word “Canada”, which means that the product was produced, made or cultivated here. The company said it is reviewing and continuously updating how it identifies the products.
Loblaws Store labeled as more than 1 in 3 articles as prepared in Canada
Market Loblaws found labeled by 35 percent of all products online as prepared in Canada.
Michael Von Massow, a professor at the University of Guelph who studies the economy of food, said he would have expected an even greater number of products to fall under the label prepared in Canada that uses Loblaws.
“It is not a really rigorous standard to know,” he said.
The CFIA website says that prepared in Canada can be used to describe a supermarket article that has been completely prepared in Canada. That means “managed, harvested, preserved, processed, proven, treated or sacrificed.”
“There is an advantage in being broader … having a broader definition means that you can label more things and facilitate that things go in baskets,” said Von Massow.
Von Massow says that a bottle of orange juice, for example, could be described as 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 again to the mixture.
Unlike a Canada product, which means practically all (98 percent) of its main ingredients, the processing and labor used to make the food product Canadian, there is no similar threshold for the items labeled as prepared in Canada.
The three brands with the highest percentage of products labeled with the label prepared in Canada included Schneiders, Liberté and Club House.
Arrogant and von Massow said that consumers should also think about how rigid it is a standard that they want to establish for themselves. Von Massow said that although it has been a challenge, at this time, he tries to buy only the product of Canada’s items.
“My wife tells me that I can’t eat my favorite cereal because it is made in the United States,” he said.
The “Buy Canadian” movement is alive and well in the city. But not only Canadians refuse to buy American products or visit the country. The movements in Europe have also emerged.
Soberman said that customers trying to avoid US property companies can find limited options, given that many Canadian brands have owners to the south of the border or in other parts of the world.
For example, Liberté and Club House have Canadian roots, but Liberté is owned by Sodiaal, a milk 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 location, such as Kraft, were not created in Canada, although the brand has He emphasized his Canadian connections.
In a statement sent by email, Loblaws said it follows CFIA guidelines when labeling all products in their stores. The arce sheet symbol in stores means that the article was prepared in Canada. He did not say why he chose that specific label online, but pointed out that some items in stores can also have a label made in Canada or Canada’s product in the packaging and shelves.
“With thousands of products changing all the time, we do our best to maintain everything precise, but sometimes errors happen,” Loblaws email read.
Voilà labeled by more than 1 in 5 articles like Shop Canada
In Voilà, an online order platform owned by Empire Company Ltd., the sovereys parent company, 22 percent of the items are labeled with a Canada Shop label.
The voilash website establishes that articles in that category are “manufactured in Canada from national and imported ingredients.”
When it comes to food, the term made in Canada means that the last substantial transformation of the product 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 also include whether the product is made with imported ingredients.
That, and the fact that the last “substantial transformation” must occur in Canada, is what distinguishes this label from the nickname prepared in Canada.
And unlike non -food items labeled in Canada, which require at least 51 percent of the product made here, the CFIA website does not indicate such a threshold for edible products.
Market The Voilà labeling has also not been consistent.
March 17, almost 35 percent of the products that appear in Voilà were labeled with the Canada Shop label, but as of March 24, approximately 22 percent were reduced.
In an email, Sebeys said its Shop Canada label is there to satisfy customer requests. The company adds its labels to the products manually, he said, and occasionally makes mistakes, but tries to fix them immediately. The articles of the Canada store include those that are 100 percent Canadians, Canada products or made in Canada, he said.
“During the past year, approximately 12 percent of sales come from products obtained in the United States, and given our work to find alternatives to the US sources, we hope this number decreases,” said Sobeys.
Mackay said that when you are buying now, you are checking all labels.
Von Massow said he would like to see the consistency between standard supermarkets they are using to identify Canadian products.
Registered stores are not the only ones under scrutiny. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) also told the broader food industry in mid -March that it has seen an increase in complaints about claims about food labels and ads, saying that labels should be clear and honest.
“This is a reminder that making false or misleading statements about the origin of a food is against Canada’s food laws and can damage consumer confidence,” said the agency on March 14.
In an email, the CFIA said Market He has received 60 complaints about claims of origin about food labels and ads since November, with 54 of those produced to February and mid -March. He said of the 19 follow -up that the agency has done, six did not meet.
The CFIA reiterated that retailers must ensure that signs and ads are not misleading, saying that labeling problems are taken seriously.
Tips for buyers
Soberman and Von Massow say that buyers should not assume an Arce sheet or a Canadian flag next to the products, which means that the product is completely Canadian.
Both experts also said that buyers must decide what they want to achieve.
“People need to decide whether to buy Canadian or not buy American,” said Von Massow.
If you want to buy Canadian products, he said, you should consider the standard you want to follow. For example, buying the product of Canada’s items will probably leave it quite restricted, while done in Canada or prepared in Canada offers more flexibility.
However, there are Some applications that can help you. The CFIA also said that it has a Reference Guide and video To help buyers.
