Jean-Pierre Blackburn, veterans affairs minister and minister of state for agriculture, is ending consultations on the content threshold for Product of Canada labelling and plans an announcement this summer.Many in the food industry expect him to announce that while the 98 percent threshold for Canadian content will remain, there will be a list of exemptions for imported food ingredients that cannot be produced in Canada.Since the new Product of Canada rules took effect last year, food manufacturers have complained that the tough rule means almost no product can be labelled because most require imported additives like sugar and spices that disqualify them from the designation.However, the plan to water down the rules has its critics.Michael Armstrong, a quality management specialist in the Brock University faculty of business, said it would be a bad idea.”I certainly think it would be bad for the farmer, bad for the consumer and even for manufacturers,” he said.He said products that require more than two percent imported product could be labelled “made in Canada from domestic and imported ingredients.”However, the highest labelling standard should be reserved for products that do meet a grown in Canada standard.”There’s nothing magical about 98 percent so it could be lower but we should be confident that if it has the label, it meets the standard,” said Armstrong. “The only time the farmer gets credit is if the label is Product of Canada and it means what it says.”He said it would hurt consumer confidence in the validity of the label.”We are talking about perception and if consumers would rather have food grown in Canada, a weakening of the rules would undermine their support of the label.”Armstrong said food manufacturers should be embracing the high percentage rule to give their products a boost in the marketplace and the ability to set a premium price.”Manufacturers want to relax the rules because it gives them more flexibility and reduces the price of inputs,” he said. “But I think they should be embracing the higher standard, making products that meet it and have an edge in the market.”He said exempting products that cannot be produced in Canada could lead to a situation where chocolate ice cream could be called Product of Canada even though its signature ingredient, chocolate, must be imported to flavour Canadian dairy products.
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