In Canada, certain food products are required to include the country of origin on their labels. Companies may also make voluntary claims to highlight the origins of a product or ingredient in a product.
Country of origin labelling does not provide information on the safety of a food product. All food products sold in Canada, whether produced in Canada or abroad, must meet strict food safety standards.
Mandatory labelling
All prepackaged food products sold in Canada are required to be labelled with the name and address of the company responsible for the product, such as the importer or manufacturer.
When a food product is wholly manufactured outside of Canada, the label must show that the product is imported. This information can be provided in 3 ways:
- the name and address of the Canadian company with the country of origin of the product
- the name and address of the foreign manufacturer
- the statement "imported for" or "imported by" followed by the name and address of the Canadian company
In addition, it is mandatory to state the country of origin on some specific imported prepackaged products, such as:
- wine and brandy
- dairy products
- honey
- fish and seafood products
- fresh fruits and vegetables
- eggs-shelled
- eggs-processed
- meat products
- maple products
- processed fruit and vegetable products
Generally, this means the words "Product of [Name the country of origin]" must appear on the label. For example, prepackaged cheese from the United States imported into Canada is required to be labelled "Product of United States."
Voluntary claims
A company may choose to make claims about the origin of a food or any ingredient in the food as long as the claims are truthful and not misleading. For example, a company may voluntarily choose to label prepackaged cookies made in the United States and imported into Canada as "Product of United States."
A company cannot mislead consumers about the origin of a product, even if some of the ingredients came from that country. For example, chocolate chip cookies made in Canada with chocolate from Belgium cannot be labelled as Belgian cookies. Instead, the label could read, "cookies made with Belgian chocolate." Similarly, the label for a blueberry pie that is made using Canadian blueberries may say "100% Canadian blueberries."
A company may choose to use a Product of Canada and Made in Canada claim to highlight that a product has been produced or manufactured in Canada provided that it follows the Guidelines for "Product of Canada" and "Made in Canada" claims.
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