$0--&$5*7*5 r$0..6/*5: MADE IN CANADA? PRODUCT OF CANADA? IT’S COMPLICATED
ANDREW COPPOLINO andrewcoppolino@gmail.com
term: “Prepared in Canada” means that the food was prepared in Canadian facilities, with Canadian workers, using domestic and/or imported ingredients. But when I called Post Foods Canada – their 1-800 consumer information agents BSFMPDBUFEJOUIF64mUIFEFUBJMTHJWFO were murky. One Post agent I spoke with said to look for an “Imported” label on the box (there isn’t one) and that the cereal, according to the Best Before information and product 4,6OVNCFST XBTNBOVGBDUVSFEJOUIF64 However, a second call to another agent to confirm said, ambiguously, the cereal iXBTMJLFMZNBEFJOUIF640S$BOBEBu So who knows? While some labelling is unclear, the information on food products can help you decide where to send your shopping dollars. And while some people are calling for a boycott on all American products including food, the degree of opposition and decision to purchase only “Product of Canada” brands is up to you and your family’s budget and philosophy. There’s a nuance to remember here in a complicated supply-line system that isn’t black and white: Canadians working in American stores and food production facilities here in Canada, including eastern Ontario, are earning a living even though the company’s profits are sent south to the American head office. It’s up to you to decide: the key is being mindful about the food you purchase. Food writer Andrew Coppolino lives in Rockland. He is the author of “Farm to Table” and co-author of “Cooking with Shakespeare.” Follow him on Instagram @ andrewcoppolino.
We got a jolt this month as the blustery U.S. president continues to threaten to upend existing Canada-United States relations with crippling trade tariffs, starting with 25 per cent on steel and aluminium products expected to start this week. While we fretted about potential damage, people began looking closely at where their food comes from, how our economy works and the general nature of our trade rela- tionships – especially with our neighbour below the 49th parallel. It stoked a moribund sense of nationalism here: Canadians have been awakened to the realization that we need to not only think local when we make food purchases, but we need to “think national” too. The activation has been less a boycot- ting of American products than a renewed Canadian patriotism triggering a landslide of activity on the Internet by Canadians searching for truly Canadian foods: mem- CFSTIJQPGB'BDFCPPLQBHFDBMMFEi.BEF in Canada-Canadian Products,” for instance, skyrocketed to more than 700,000 people. Though it is not always transparent, discovering “Canadian” foods starts with reading the label on your can of beans, bottle of ketchup or package of cookies. Product of Canada The Government of Canada calls them “origin claims on food labels.” Any infor- mation a food-processing company adds to their labels about where the food comes from, and any attending advertising, must be accurate and not misleading. There are a few labels to understand as you go through the grocery-store aisles. Generally, a food product – let’s say your jar of Bolognese spaghetti sauce – can use the label “Product of Canada” when the vast majority of “major ingredients” in the jar are Canadian in origin and the processing of the tomatoes, facilities and the labour used to make the product are Canadian. A factor of roughly two per cent non-Cana- dian ingredients is permitted: for example, if the chocolate chip cookies you purchased are made in Canada with Canadian flour, butter, eggs, milk solids, salt and baking soda, they can be labelled “Product of Canada” – even though we must import the primary ingredient, chocolate. This is the case generally for spices, many vitamins and minerals, flavouring agents and food additives, as well as cane sugar, coffee and oranges and grapefruits, and other such fruits. A food product claiming to be “Cana- dian” is generally a claim to be a “Product of Canada,” but foods exported and then
Il n'est pas toujours facile de déterminer ce qui est fabriqué au Canada, ce qui est un produit du Canada ou autre. Avec une chaîne d'approvisionnement alambiquée, acheter canadien n'est pas aussi simple que de lire l'étiquette. (Andrew Coppolino)
re-imported into Canada are generally not considered able to make the “Product of Canada” claim, according to Canada.ca. Made in Canada "MBCFMi.BEFJO$BOBEBuPSi1SPVEMZ .BEF JO $BOBEBu NFBOT UIBU iUIF MBTU substantial transformation” to make the food has occurred in Canada – even if many of the ingredients used to make the food are not from Canada. A common example is pizza: when the dough, cheese, mushrooms, pepperoni and tomato sauce imported from outside of Canada are significantly changed – that is “substantially transformed” into a new product – by food workers here in Canada, UIFSFTVMUJTQJ[[BUIBUDBOCFMBCFMMFEi.BEF in Canada.” i.BEFJO$BOBEBuDMBJNTHFOFSBMMZNVTU include a qualifying statement: for instance, a DBOPG$FEBSCMBDLFZFEQFBTGSPN.POUSFBM based Phoenicia Group is “made in Canada from domestic and imported ingredients.” It’s complicated Sometimes, though, it’s unclear that a food product is actually made in Canada, and I’ve collected a few examples here. When you grab a package of “Amooza” cheese strings for your kids (or for yourself), nowhere on the package does it say “Product PG$BOBEBuPSi.BEFJO$BOBEBu Rather, the origin appears merely implied by the familiar blue logo of the Dairy Farmers of Canada (DFC) and that their milk is being
used to make the rather rubbery processed mozzarella sticks. :PVMMBMTPTFFBMBCFMGPSUIFi$IFFTF Corporation of Canada,” a somewhat more difficult entity to pierce but which appears to be linked to DFC. (There is also a curious MBCFMGPSi$IFFTOBDLT<TJD>5. uXIJDI* could not find in a Google search.) :PVSCPUUMFPG/FTUMF/FTRVJLDIPDPMBUF syrup makes numerous claims: it’s real cocoa, is “rainforest alliance certified” (whatever that means), is iron-enriched with no artificial flavours or colours – and that it should not be refrigerated. :FU EJTDPWFSJOHXIFSF/FTRVJLJTNBEF JTBOPUIFSNBUUFS/FTUMF$BOBEB QBSUPG UIFTVQFSHJBOUGPPEDPOHMPNFSBUF/FTUMF 4" JTMPDBUFEJO/PSUI:PSL 0OUBSJP CVU I had to call the consumer information line listed on the bottle to confirm that the syrup is made in Canada. The labelling on Breton crackers from Canadian- and family-owned Dare Foods requires an Enigma cipher machine to crack the code of letters in the “Best Before” EBUFi$uJOEJDBUFT$BNCSJEHF 0OUBSJP i.u .JMUPO 0OUBSJP i3u4BJOUF.BSUJOF 2VFCFD and “S” Spartanburg, South Carolina. The Bretons in my larder were, it turns out, made in Kitchener, Ontario – but how would you know that if you didn’t contact the company? A label on the front of Post Spoon Size Shredded Wheat and Bran offers another every one of the communities within the Prescott County region. They spend the evening first with an instruction session for young hockey enthusiasts on skating and game skills. The rest of the evening is spent in a free-for-all scrimmage session between the Hawks and their young fans. Leonard noted that the program has proven successful enough to consider as a regular feature for the club every season from now on. “One thing we wanted to do was to get the team more involved in the community,” he said, “and also to attract more interest in hockey in Hawkesbury.” The program wraps up with its final ses- sions later this month in Alfred and across UIF0UUBXB3JWFSJO(SFOWJMMF 2VÊCFD5IF
PLAY TIME WITH THE HAWKS
GREGG CHAMBERLAIN news@eap.on.ca
Monday night at the outdoor rink in St- Eugène with young hockey fans whizzing around the ice with the Hawkesbury Hawks. The Hawks have spent the past few weeks devoting some of their free time in a new community project to help promote hockey in general and the local team in particular. “This has been our biggest turnout ever,” said Brian Leonard, Hawks general manager, while watching the action on ice. “We pro- bably have at least 60 kids here.” Since last month members of the Hawks UFBNIBWFTQFOUFJUIFS.POEBZPS8FEOFT - day evening at one of the outdoor rinks in
Dans le cadre d’un nouveau projet d’activités communautaires, le club des Hawks a organisé une série de matchs amicaux d’entraînement et de hockey récréatif aux patinoires extérieures locales du comté de Prescott. (Gregg Chamberlain) Hawks’ Facebook page has the scheduled days and times for each session. Participa- tion is free for any child or youth who wants to go on the ice with the Hawks.
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