Canada’s New Food Labelling Initiative

May 21, 2008, Beamsville, Ont.- Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced today he's putting the "Canada'' back in the "made in Canada'' label on foods sold in Canadian grocery stores.|

At a farm in Beamsville, Ontario, he says the government is changing food labelling that dates back to the 1980s to ensure when a product says “made in Canada'' it really is and the label reflects it.

Harper says under current rules, it's been legal to call a product "made in Canada'' if 51 per cent of the production costs were incurred here and the transformation of product was in Canada – even if its ingredients were imported.

He says that's not good enough for Canadian consumers – and the new rules will let them know when they're really supporting Canadian jobs and the Canadian economy.

Harper says under the new rules, a "made in Canada'' label will mean all or virtually all the contents are Canadian in origin -so the apples in the apple juice will come from Canadian orchards, the cod in the fish sticks will come from Canadian waters and all the milk in the ice cream will come from Canadian dairy cows.

He says if some of the ingredients of the product come from another country, the label would have to reflect that by saying "made in Canada with imported ingredients.''

Prior to implementing these new guidelines, the Government is asking Canadians to submit their views, using the interactive form provided on the website HealthyCanadians.ca .  Please note the consultations will end on June 11, 2008.

More information on the food labelling initiative can be found here .