Pop quiz: In which country does canola have a better reputation – Canada or the United States?
The answer would probably surprise most prairie farmers: American consumers have a significantly better view of the healthy benefits of canola oil than do Canadians.
“That’s a wake-up call to us,” said Canola Council of Canada president Barb Isman during the council’s annual meeting.
“We know that we have to improve our profile in Canada.”
Canola does not have a bad reputation in Canada. The vast majority of Canadians see canola oil as a “healthy” oil and favour it to most other oils when they go to the grocery store.
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But canola oil does not get anything like the healthy perception premium that it deserves. Kevin Flanagan of McCain Foods, the world’s largest producer of french fries, said his company was surprised by results of its public opinion poll about various sources of fat.
Not only does Canada lag the United States in terms of its public perception of canola’s healthy benefits, but canola comes in second place to a foreign competing oil in its own backyard.
Eighty-five percent of Canadians said that olive oil was “very/somewhat” healthy, but only 68 percent said the same for canola.
Canola was only slightly higher than sunflower seed oil and soybean oil.
Canola oil on average has less than half the saturated fat content of olive oil and soybean oil and about 40 percent less than sunflower oil.
Olive oil is not only seen by more people in general as being a healthy oil, but is also found more in the higher income households that tend to set the dietary trends that lower income sectors eventually follow, Flanagan said.
Isman said she and other council officials and members were surprised by the lead that olive oil had gained on canola, but said the new information would reaffirm the council’s commitment to reinvigorate its outreach to Canadian consumers.
“We knew a few months ago that we needed to look at it,” said Isman, who noted that the council had cut back on its canola consumer promotion in Canada in recent years as it focused on other issues and other markets.
So far those efforts appear to be paying dividends. As the poll results show, U.S. consumers have a highly favourable opinion of canola oil and there is no reason to believe Canadian views can’t be made equally positive.
“We’re like a plumber with a leaky faucet (in his own home),” said Isman.
“We’ve put a tremendous amount of work into the U.S. in the last couple of years, but none into Canada.”
Isman said the U.S. market has been a priority because it contains about 300 million people compared to Canada’s 30 million. The United States is also ahead of Canada in enforcing the labelling of trans fats by the end of this year on all food packages, something that should give products containing canola an edge in that country.
But she said the McCain numbers show that vegetable oils, just like prophets, don’t always get the respect they deserve in their own lands.
“It’s benign neglect,” said Isman.
“You just assume it, but most of the population doesn’t live in Western Canada. Most of the population lives in Toronto and doesn’t see those pretty yellow flowers in Ontario or Quebec. It’s not familiar to them. It’s not a part of their social fabric.”
