Complaints about food mislabelled as products of Canada rising: CFIA

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says it’s seen an increase in complaints about items mislabelled as products of Canada or missing information about their country of origin.

The federal organization enforcing labelling standards on food products says the rash of complaints have come in the last few months, when Canadians were increasingly supporting local businesses to fend off threatened tariffs from the U.S.

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The CFIA is still reviewing the complaints but says it’s too early to tell if there has been non-compliance.

It has received no complaints about manufacturers mislabelling their products as made in Canada or incorrectly claiming they are 100 per cent Canadian.

A product of Canada label denotes that all, or nearly all, of the food, processing and labour used to make the product is Canadian.

A made in Canada label can only be applied to items when the last substantial transformation of the product occurred in Canada, like when imported ingredients are transformed into an item in Canada. A 100 per cent Canadian claim means an item must have entirely Canadian ingredients, processing and labour.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 5, 2025.

Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press