Groups warm to labelling proposal

Saturday, May 24, 2008

by BETTER FARMING STAFF

Manufacturers aren't required to identify if their products are made in Canada or not, and the new guidelines won't change this fact, a federal news release suggests. However, sticking to the guidelines will be mandatory for those who want to promote Canadian content.

Under the new guidelines if Product of Canada appears on the label all major ingredients and labour used to make the food product must come from Canada.

The Made in Canada label will be used when the food product is manufactured or processed in Canada regardless of the origin of the ingredients. But the label comes with a caveat -- the last substantial transformation on the product must have occurred in Canada and the label will also identify the domestic and/or imported nature of the ingredients.

Manufacturers may make other claims as long as they are not misleading, but will be encouraged to use the two main labels, the release said.

“Finally there’s going to be some clarity,” said Brenda Lammens, chair of the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers' Association, of the May announcement that plans were underway to modernize federal guidelines governing the use of “Product of Canada” and “Made in Canada” labels. “The labeling issue has been a very big issue for us for quite a few years now because it was misleading and our concern has been that when it was saying product of Canada that actually ... a lot of times it was not.”

In an article appearing in the February issue of Better Farming, Peter Travers, an Ottawa-based food program officer for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) noted existing policies allow the use of a “Product of Canada” label when at least 51 per cent of direct cost inputs take place in Canada and the product was transformed here.

Lammens pointed out that 51 per cent not only includes the product but also its packaging: “A lot of times the 'Product of Canada' was the value of many times the container instead of what was inside of it.”

Ontario Pork spokesperson Mary Jane Quinn also called the program positive. “Any program that helps the consumer clearly identify where their food is coming from is a positive thing for the industry,” she said.

Gord Hardy, president of the Ontario Cattlemen’s Association, said the proposal is “something that groups like the Ontario Cattlemen have been asking for and the Canadian Federation (of Agriculture) have been working toward.”

Responding to the suggestion that Country of Origin Labeling legislation in the U.S. was having some unforeseen impacts on the agriculture industry south of the border, especially in the livestock industry, Lammens, Quinn and Hardy all say new Canadian guidelines will mean some learning curves for the domestic industry.

But the effort “is certainly a step in the right direction that they are scrutinizing (domestic product labeling) a bit more,” noted Quinn. BF