Mar. 29, 2025 "Marketplace found up to 1 in 3 groceries get labelled as Canadian. Customers say they're skeptical": Today I found this article by Bobby Hrisotva and Dexter McMillan on CBC:
To show support for Canada amid a trade war with the U.S., John Mackay says he tries to only buy Canadian products during grocery runs.
That's why the 81-year-old from Tillsonburg, Ont., said he's complained to Metro multiple times after seeing orange juice with pulp by Irrésistible — a Metro-owned private-label brand — with a red maple leaf next to the price tag on the shelf.
"Since when are we growing oranges in Canada?" said Mackay, whose home is roughly 115 kilometres west of Hamilton. "I was pissed off."
What customers see on the Metro website is a red circle with a maple leaf and the words "produit d'ici" — which translates to "product from here" — next to the word Canada, outside the circle.
But the website doesn't contain a clear definition of exactly what that means.
Shoppers like Mackay are expressing frustration from coast to coast, many writing into Marketplace,
questioning what products get identified as Canadian
and who's actually benefiting by our largest grocery stores using these labels.
To find out how often grocery stores are labelling products with Canadian symbols, Marketplace analyzed products sold online at one Loblaws store, through Voilà in Toronto, and at Metro.
Marketplace found that a third of products at the Loblaws were labelled as Prepared in Canada,
and more than a fifth of products at Voilà were labelled with a Shop Canada logo.
There were also thousands of Metro products listed under that store's Canada label.
The products listed range from local maple syrup to not-so-local items, like pineapple juice.
Marketplace shared its findings with experts who say grocery stores are trying to capitalize on the country's wave of patriotism,
noting that a vague definition of what makes a product Canadian is in the best interest of retailers,
not shoppers.
"There's all kinds of opportunities to do marketing that are somewhat misleading," said David Soberman, a marketing professor at University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management.
Metro told Marketplace the "produit d'ici" logo was mistakenly added to items on its Ontario web pages and is being removed and will just display the word "Canada," which means the product was
produced,
made
or grown here.
The company said it is continuously reviewing and updating how it identifies products.
Loblaws store labelled more than 1 in 3 items as Prepared in Canada
Marketplace found Loblaws labelled 35 per cent of all products online as Prepared in Canada.
Michael von Massow, a professor at the University of Guelph who studies the economy of food, said he would've expected an even higher number of products to fall under the Prepared in Canada label that Loblaws uses.
"It's not a really rigorous standard to meet," he said.
The CFIA website says Prepared in Canada
can be used to describe a grocery item that has been entirely prepared in Canada. That means
"handled,
harvested,
preserved,
processed,
tested,
treated
or slaughtered."
"There's an advantage to being broader … having a broader definition means you can label more things and make it easier for things to go in baskets," said von Massow.
Von Massow says a bottle of orange juice, for example, could be described as Prepared in Canada because it could be bottled here
or because, if it's a juice with concentrate, a Canadian entity could have added water back into the mixture.
Unlike a Product of Canada, which means virtually all (98 per cent)
of its major ingredients,
processing
and the labour used to make the food product
must be Canadian,
there is no similar threshold for items labelled as Prepared in Canada.
The three brands with the highest percentage of products tagged with the Prepared in Canada label included
Schneiders,
Liberté
and Club House.
Soberman and von Massow both said consumers should also think about how rigid a standard they want to set for themselves.
Von Massow said though it's been a challenge, right now, he tries to only buy Product of Canada items.
"My wife tells me I can't eat my favourite cereal anymore because it's made in the U.S.A.," he said.
Soberman said customers trying to avoid companies with American ownership may find themselves with limited options, given many Canadian brands have owners south of the border or elsewhere in the world.
For example, Liberté and Club House have Canadian roots,
but Liberté is owned by Sodiaal, a dairy co-operative in France,
and Club House is owned by an American company, McCormick and Co.
Some brands with a high percentage of Prepared in Canada products at the Loblaws location — like Kraft — weren't created in Canada, though the brand has emphasized its Canadian connections.
In an emailed statement, Loblaws said it follows the CFIA guidelines when labelling all products at its stores.
The maple leaf symbol in stores means the item was Prepared in Canada. It didn't say why it chose that specific label online, but noted some items in stores may also have a Made in Canada or Product of Canada label on the packaging and shelves.
"With thousands of products changing all the time, we do our best to keep everything accurate, but sometimes mistakes happen," read the email from Loblaws.
Voilà labelled more than 1 in 5 items as Shop Canada
At Voilà, an online-ordering platform owned by Empire Company Ltd., the parent company of Sobeys, 22 per cent of items are tagged with a Shop Canada label.
The Voilà website states items in that category are "made in Canada from domestic and imported ingredients."
When it comes to food, the term Made in Canada means
the last substantial transformation of the product occurred in Canada,
even if the ingredients aren't from Canada, according to the CFIA website.
If the Made in Canada label is used, it must also include whether the product is made with imported ingredients.
That, and the fact that the last "substantial transformation" needs to happen in Canada,
are what set this label apart from the Prepared in Canada moniker.
And unlike non-food items labelled Made in Canada, which require at least 51 per cent of the product to be made here,
the CFIA website doesn't indicate such a threshold for edible products.
On March 17, nearly 35 per cent of products listed on Voilà were tagged with the Shop Canada label, but as of March 24, it was down to roughly 22 per cent.
In an email, Sobeys said its Shop Canada label is there to meet customers' requests. The company adds its labels to products manually, it said, and occasionally makes mistakes, but tries to fix them immediately.
The Shop Canada items include those that are 100 per cent Canadian,
Products of Canada
or Made in Canada, it said.
"Over the past year, approximately 12 per cent of sales have come from products sourced in the U.S., and given our work to find alternatives to U.S. sources, we expect this number to decrease," Sobeys said.
Mackay said when he's shopping now, he's double-checking all the labels.
Von Massow said he'd like to see consistency between the standard grocery stores are using to identify Canadian products.
Grocery stores are not the only ones under scrutiny. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) also told the broader food industry in mid-March that it has seen a rise in complaints about claims on food labels and advertisements, saying labels must be clear and honest.
"This is a reminder that making false or misleading claims about a food's origin is against Canada's food laws and can damage consumer confidence," the agency said on March 14.
In an email, the CFIA told Marketplace it has received 60 complaints about origin claims on food labels and advertisements since November — with 54 of those coming in February and mid-March. It said of the 19 followups the agency has done, six were non-compliant.
The CFIA reiterated that retailers must ensure signs and advertisements are not misleading, saying it takes labelling issues seriously.
Tips for shoppers
Soberman and von Massow say shoppers should not assume a maple leaf or Canadian flag next to products means the product is fully Canadian.
Both experts also said shoppers should decide what they want to accomplish.
"People need to decide whether it's buy Canadian
— or not to buy American,"
said von Massow.
If you do want to buy Canadian products, he noted, you should consider the standard you want to stick to.
For example, shopping for Product of Canada items will likely leave you pretty restricted,
whereas Made in Canada or Prepared in Canada offers more flexibility.
There are, however, some apps that can help you. The CFIA also said it has a reference guide and video to help shoppers.
Apr. 12, 2025 "Are you paying more than before to buy Canadian? Experts say it's complicated": Today I found this article by Bobby Hristova and Dexter McMillan on CBC:
In late January, then-prime minister Justin Trudeau and the country's premiers urged people to "choose Canada" by purchasing Canadian products amid the growing threat of U.S. tariffs.
"There are many ways for you to do your part," Trudeau said on Jan. 22. "It might mean checking the labels and picking Canadian-made products."
With U.S. tariffs now in place and counter-tariffs in effect, shoppers who took that message to heart are scrutinizing labels — and, at the same time, many are asking the question:
Is there a premium on patriotism?
Marketplace has received dozens of messages in recent weeks from consumers wondering if they're now paying more for the same products because they're, to varying degrees, Canadian.
"I would like an investigation [to see] if 'Buy Canadian' is just another fancy marketing tactic," wrote one user on Reddit.
Another sent us an email saying they feel like "Canadian items have gone up in price, some seem to increase weekly."
So Marketplace analyzed the prices of thousands of grocery products labelled as Canadian at one downtown Toronto Loblaws store from the start of the year.
While nine out of 10 products remained the same price
— and about two per cent decreased in price
— Marketplace found the regular price of hundreds of products have increased
since governments put out the call to buy food made in Canada.
Some are from Canada's most iconic brands, including
Tim Hortons,
St-Hubert,
Swiss Chalet
and Chapman's.
Marketplace spoke with several economists who all said it's impossible to know for sure if a premium is being applied as demand soars at home for Canadian products,
because many factors
— like how processed an item is
and whether it's affected by U.S. levies
— are at play when it comes to pricing.
They came to different conclusions about whether the demand for Canadian products might explain the price hike.
Manufacturers say it's the grocers who decide the price tag
and the grocer, Loblaw, denies raising grocery prices due to the demand to buy Canadian.
But Colin Mang, an assistant professor of economics at McMaster University, said it's clear people want to buy Canadian products.
He points to a recently published survey of 9,788 Canadians conducted by Caddle for Dalhousie University in Halifax,
which found that roughly 60 per cent of respondents were willing to pay a premium for Canadian products over American alternatives.
According to Mang, that gives retailers an opening to raise prices.
"Consumers, when they see that little Canadian flag next to the product, I think that really increases their desire to have that product," he said.
"There's this big 'Buy Canadian' movement and Canadian manufacturers and retailers are poised to take advantage of that. They can charge higher prices."
Which Tim Hortons products got pricier?
Loblaw, which owns several grocery banners, including
No Frills,
Fortinos,
Independent,
Real Canadian Superstore
and Zehrs,
said it started rolling out the maple leaf logo online and in stores in early February to indicate whether products were prepared in Canada.
Marketplace found that between Feb. 3 and Feb. 10, multiple Tim Hortons products at the Loblaws store rose in price.
One hot chocolate mix jumped from $15.99 to $17.99.
The same Tim Hortons hot chocolate mix also increased in price twice on Voilà, a food delivery platform owned by Sobeys operating in the GTA, in late March and early April.
Two different sizes of French vanilla cappuccino mixes increased by 50 cents and a dollar respectively at Loblaws.
Later in the year, on March 31, Tim Hortons caramel toffee coffee pods also went up in price from $12.99 to $13.49 through Voilà.
Michael von Massow, a professor at the University of Guelph who studies the economy of food, called the timing "unfortunate."
He said coffee has become more expensive because of
a weaker Canadian dollar
and its vulnerability to climate change,
which is causing production issues.
Mang said he thinks grocers increased the price due to consumer demand,
because the price of raw cocoa was falling during the February increases,
and while transportation costs may have marginally increased,
wages held steady.
Michael Oliveira, director of communications at Tim Hortons, told Marketplace in a phone interview that retailers set the price in the store — not the manufacturer.
Oliveira declined to explain how Tim Hortons determines the price it suggests retailers use or if that suggested price has changed, instead noting coffee and cocoa commodities are at or near all-time highs in terms of cost.
Manasvi Thakur, a spokesperson for Sobeys, called the idea that the price increase was the result of demand for Canadian products "blatantly false"
and said "there is always volatility within the cocoa and coffee sectors."
Thakur added that when a supplier submits a cost increase,
there's a comprehensive process to validate those changes before adjusting prices.
In an email, Loblaw said the
cost of ingredients,
labour
and more factor into pricing.
The company explained that while 'prepared in Canada' coffee pods
are roasted and packaged in Canada,
the beans are imported
and have seen significant cost increases over the past year.
Which St-Hubert and Swiss Chalet products got pricier?
Two St-Hubert products — a chicken pot pie and tourtière — and a Swiss Chalet chicken pot pie all increased in price from $7.99 to $8.99 between March 10 and March 16 at the Loblaws location.
"I think you could likely attribute that one more to an increase in Canadian demand," said Stuart Smyth, a professor in the department of agricultural and resource economics at the University of Saskatchewan.
He said tariffs likely wouldn't have affected these products at the time.
Von Massow said he didn't think
any of the products would require lots of imported ingredients
or be subject to significant tariffs
but added it's unclear to pinpoint why the price increased.
Speaking on behalf of St-Hubert and Swiss Chalet, Josée Vaillancourt, St-Hubert's communications director, said in an email the company hasn't increased the price on these products and wouldn't share details on how it determines a price, describing it as a "long, comprehensive exercise that we do not take lightly."
Vaillancourt said retailers ultimately decide the price seen in the store
and said most have policies preventing suppliers and retailers from discussing retail prices.
She said that tracking prices at one store doesn't indicate a total market increase or decrease, noting that errors do happen.
Loblaw did not specifically address the price increase of these products in its email to Marketplace.
Which Chapman's products got pricier?
Some products from Canadian ice cream maker Chapman's also increased at the Loblaw location — despite the company saying in early March that it would absorb immediate cost increases due to tariffs and hold prices steady.
But Marketplace found that while some Chapman's ice cream products actually decreased in price,
three no-sugar-added, lactose-free Chapman's products jumped in price:
vanilla ice cream, vanilla ice cream sandwiches and double dutch ice cream increased from $7.99 to $8.49 at the Loblaws on March 25.
Pascal Thériault, an agronomist and economist at McGill University,
said the price of ingredients like sugar has fluctuated,
and Mang noted how other dairy products have risen in price,
all of which may have impacted the cost of the Chapman's products.
Von Massow said he thinks the store may have raised the price with the demand for ice cream growing as warmer weather nears.
Ashley Chapman, the company's chief operating officer, said he occasionally gets emails from frustrated customers about higher prices given Chapman's promise. While he understands why people might feel upset or confused, he said the retailer dictates the price in the store.
He said Chapman's products would see a "huge" price increase if the company wasn't absorbing the cost of tariffs.
He also said shoppers shouldn't assume a price increase by grocers is "nefarious."
He said grocers may be accounting for the fact that prices will likely drop between May and September,
which is when manufacturers like Chapman's are investing more money in promotional strategies and pricing to compete with each other and match the higher demand for ice cream during the summer.
Loblaw did not specifically address the price increase of these products in its email to Marketplace.
Mang said people may be willing to pay more to 'buy Canadian,' but that doesn't mean they want to see a rise in price.
"People do mind paying higher prices," he said.
Thériault said customers should try and
buy ingredients
and foods
that involve less processing
to save money
and avoid fluctuating prices.
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