What do labels like ‘Made in Canada’ and ‘Product of Canada’ mean?

How can you know you’re buying a made-in-Canada product as a consumer living in Canada?

With more Trump tariffs on the horizon, Evan Bray speaks with food label consultant Walter Dullemond with FTC International Consulting Ltd. to find out how we can consciously consume in the coming weeks and months.

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Listen to the full interview here:

The following transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

Evan Bray: What does the team at FTC International do?

Walter Dullemond: We work with food manufacturers distributors and importers to be able to make their products compliant with Canadian regulations and that helps works in food safety, food as well as product development.

Why is food labelling important work?

Dullemond: Many companies are fairly conversant with the products that they’re producing, but not necessarily with the regulations that apply to the labelling, and they want to make sure that they do not get into trouble with the federal government for the labelling of their products.

Is shopping Canadian a topic in your circle?

Dullemond: Yeah, of course, it’s something that this is required. To some extent, products that are labelled or produced and labelled in Canada have an option of being labelled as products or made in Canada. But it’s not required.

Products that are imported may or may not be required to have a country of origin listed, which is a bit of a challenge.

Product of Canada means essentially all the ingredients, the labour and the packaging materials should be coming from Canada. (Céline Grimard/650 CKOM)

How can shoppers understand and know when something is made in Canada, is there something particular they should be looking for?

Dullemond: When a product is labelled as Made In Canada, or products of Canada it’s essentially all the ingredients, the labour and the packaging materials that should be coming from Canada.

Only a minor proportion can be sourced outside of the country, such as things like spices or vitamins or minerals or things like that.

When a product is labelled or doesn’t have that label on it, that means that it’s made with ingredients that are either imported or produced outside of Canada, but people may elect not to label it at all as a product of Canada, simply because it’s not something that they occur to them.

This product is made in the U.S. but is imported by Canada according to the label. (Céline Grimard/650 CKOM)

Is there a proportion that needs to be from Canada for it to be labelled a Canadian product?

Dullemond: In essence, the regulations referred to a minute amount. It doesn’t really specify a limit, but it’s usually less than one or two per cent.

Are Canadian products more likely to be cheaper if these tariffs go into effect?

That’s a major challenge. A lot of ingredients are imported into Canada for food production, so definitely potential for ingredient costs to go up, and as a result, the product costs to go up. However, a tariff on a finished product will be higher than just the cost of ingredients.

Is it mandatory that you say the product is made in Canada, made in the United States?

Dullemond: No, that’s one of the problems. When products are imported, they can be labelled as imported by or imported for. It doesn’t have to list a country of origin at all.

Products may be labelled by the manufacturer as to where they’re located and they should be, but if something is labelled imported for another company, it has to be labelled just as that and it doesn’t list a country of origin.

Do we have products that would be considered Canadian products, even though the company is an American company? Is that possible?

Dullemond: Absolutely. There are many U.S. companies that have manufacturing facilities in Canada and that produce products that are inside of Canada with Canadian labour. The profits go to the U.S. but all the ingredients come from here.

Some U.S. companies may have manufacturing facilities in Canada but the profits still go to the U.S. (Céline Grimard/650 CKOM)

Do you expect to see any new policy coming out on food labelling as a result of what’s going on right now?

Dullemond: It wouldn’t surprise me if this trade agreement or this trade battle is continuing. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Canadian government sends out some regulations with regard to country-of-origin labelling.

How has the threat of tariffs impacted you and your peers at FTC International?

Dullemond: It hasn’t substantially changed.