Thursday, May 22, 2008

Made In Canada? - Stephen Harper Announces Changes to Canada's Food Labelling Laws

Ok, so we all know how important (and trendy!) the concept of eating locally has become in the last 18 months or so. Not that eating locally is, or should be considered to be a new practice by any stretch of the imagination, but between the hype fear surrounding rising food costs, contaminated imports, and the global energy crisis, the concept of 'eating locally' has entered into the consumer mainstream. Even if we don't all practice it, we certainly have all heard about it.

I'm not sure how many people took notice then, to a story produced last fall by the The MarketPlace on CBC outlining a major deficiency in Canada's food labelling laws - products claiming to be 'Made in Canada' or 'Products of Canada' may actually be composed of food from anywhere other than, well, Canada.

Under the current laws, provided that 50% of the manufacturing or processing of a given food item takes place in Canada, the food can claim that it is a Product of Canada. Including apple juice made at a plant in Canada with apples from China, coffe roasted in Vancouver with beans from Kenya, fruit salad tinned in Toronto with fruit from anywhere warm enough to grow it... the list goes on. Virtually anything, provided it's packaged in the great white north can claim itself a product of the great white north. Which makes things really confusing if you are trying to step it up and eat locally.

Oddly forshadowed by a Globe and Mail article published earlier this month, yesterday's announcement by Prime Minister Stephen Harper introduced sweeping changes to food labelling policies that will force producers to accurately to use labels to reflect the origins of the food involved, if they want to claim a product as Canadian.

Under the new legislation:

-To claim a foodstuff as a 'Product of Canada' all major ingredients, labour, to make a food product would have to actually be from or take place in Canada. The law does leave room for minor additives such as spices or perservatives that cannot be sourced in Canada.

-To claim a foodstuff as 'Made In Canada' food product would have to be manufactured or processed in Canada regardless of whether the ingredients are imported or domestic or both. Before "Made in Canada" could be used on a food product, the last substantial transformation of the product must have occurred in Canada and the claim would be qualified with either "Made in Canada from domestic and imported ingredients" or "Made in Canada from imported ingredients".

Of course the implementation of these changes won't be seen for some time.

According to the Prime Minster's own website, 'The government will hold consultations to get views from Canadians and stakeholders before finalizing the new food labelling guidelines. Canadians are invited to participate in this consultation by visiting www.healthycanadians.ca or calling 1-800-442-2342.'

If you visit HealthCanadians.ca, there is a survey available for for people to respond to about their understanding of current food labelling and the new guidlines proposed to take effect. The survey is only online until June 11, and is fairly well hidden on the site. Here is a direct link.


A full document on the proposed changes can be found here. I haven't had a chance to read the full report yet, but I'm looking forward to it. This might be the single act Stephen Harper has made since coming into office that actually makes him out to be less of a douche. And of course, ultimatley anything that leads to a more empowered consumer is ulimately a gdood thing.




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