Ottawa has signaled that it is willing to retreat from some of the most contentious elements of its Product of Canada labelling policy that Canadian food processors say is unworkable.
At an April 19 news conference, veterans affairs minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn, minister of state for agriculture, said that after consultations with processors, he understands the industry has a problem with the government’s 2009 decision to require that any product carrying a ‘Product of Canada’ label be at least 98.5 percent Canadian content.
The processing industry says that threshold means almost no product can be labelled Product of Canada because almost all processed food contains ingredients not produced in Canada – sugar, spices and vinegar, for example.
The House of Commons agriculture committee had recommended an 85 percent trigger.
Blackburn said the government wants to continue consulting with processors and consumers but it is proposing that ingredients “difficult to source in Canada” be excluded from the 98.5 percent threshold.
