Canadian customers are on high alert amid the threat of tariffs between Canada and the U.S.
With U.S. President Donald Trump vowing to slap 25 per cent tariffs on Canada and Mexico on April 2, calls to support Canadian-made products grow stronger.
Over 23,000 have signed a petition urging “Product of Canada” labels in grocery stores.
While some companies like Empire Company Limited (owner of Sobeys, Safeway, IGA, FreshCo and Foodland) and Metro Inc. (owner of Ontario and Quebec grocers like Food Basics and Super C) have pledged to promote made-in-Canada goods, some Canadians are claiming stores are mislabelling products.
Several grocery shoppers have shared photos on Reddit showing how some items are labelled as products of Canada on store signage, but upon a closer look, they’re actually U.S. products.
“Heads up to anyone who shops at the Regent St. Sobeys in Fredericton. I just popped in cause I needed a refill on coffee and discovered a bunch of the Coffee has the ‘Canadian Product’ sticker, but is all U.S. products,” reads one post.
Another customer found mislabelled carrots at a FreshCo in Toronto.
“Shelf says Canadian, but little blue tag on product says ‘product of U.S.A.,'” they wrote.
Another post shows what looks to be apples sold at a Real Canadian Superstore in Vancouver.
The sign above the apples says they’re a product of Canada, but the stickers on the apples reads “U.S.A.”
“This should be illegal,” wrote the Redditor.
The apples in question that a Real Canadian Superstore location labelled as “made in Canada.” Photo from Reddit.
In an email, a Loblaw spokesperson said the company is aware of the issue of mislabelling in one location and apologized for any inconvenience. They noted that the mislabelling is a human error.
“The process of changing the overhead signage is manual, including the update to the ‘Product of’ line,” explained the grocer. “We are working with each of our stores to educate our colleagues to ensure that signage is updated as the product on display changes.”
Empire Company has been contacted for comment on the Reddit posts about their stores, Sobeys and FreshCo.
If you’re looking for a simple way to identify Canadian-made products, check out this easy-to-use online scanner.
