People want to know where their food comes from. We get questions like, “Is our meat and produce grown locally?” or “How is my food created and packaged?”. These are great questions and to make sure that Canadians are getting the safest and best quality products, Canada enforces strict food labelling guidelines.
There are three types of food products that Canadians eat each day:
Food products that are entirely manufactured outside of Canada
Food products that are made using mostly Canadian ingredients and that are manufactured in Canada
Food products that are made in Canada using a mix of imported and local ingredients
Foods that are manufactured outside of Canada have a label that says “Made in (country of origin)”, “Imported by” or “Imported for”, and shows that the product has been imported.
Food products that are made in Canada out of mostly of Canadian ingredients are labelled “Product of Canada”. There is a good chance that one of the frontline food heroes you know makes one of these products.
Food products that are labeled as “Made in Canada” means that the product was made in Canada, but ingredients can come from a variety of countries. These products are qualified with additional labelling such as “Made in Canada from imported ingredients” or “Made in Canada from domestic and imported ingredients”.
Some “Made in Canada” labels you might have seen in your grocery store include:
“Roasted and blended in Canada”
Used to label coffee as all coffee beans are imported
“Canned in Canada”
Used to label for products that were canned in Canada
“Refined in Canada”
“Packaged in Canada”
Used to describe food which is imported in large amounts and packaged in Canada
The Canadian government and the food industry are constantly reviewing labelling to make sure that Canadians have a better understanding of the foods they eat each day. You can learn more about food labelling by visiting the Canada Food Inspection Agency website.
Ask us any other questions you have about your food.