Thank you, Mr. Chairperson.
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. We certainly do appreciate this opportunity to appear before the committee. My name is Debra Bryanton and I'm the executive director of the food safety directorate at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. One of my divisions is the consumer protection division. Ms. Carla Barry, the acting director of that group, is here with me today.
We are here today to discuss the CFIA's work regarding “Product of Canada” and “Made in Canada” labelling of food products. As has been pointed out by the Competition Bureau, CFIA does have the responsibility for labelling policy and legislation as it relates to consumer protection in food.
With regard to the current situation, food offered for sale in Canada, whether domestically produced or imported, must meet Canadian food safety standards. Manufacturers and importers are responsible for ensuring that the materials they use, as well as the products they sell, meet all federal requirements.
Canadians have a high level of confidence and trust in foods from Canada and in Canada’s food production system. We do have a world-class reputation for producing food that is good to eat, wholesome, and of a high quality. So it is no surprise that manufacturers sometimes voluntarily label their products with the claim “Product of Canada” or “Made in Canada”, both in their advertising and on their labels. To help promote their commitment to Canadian jobs and the economy, companies often use words or phrases, logos, pictures, or symbols to indicate that the product is of Canadian origin.
Companies can make such voluntary declarations as long as they are true and do not mislead the consumer. These general requirements prohibiting false and misleading information on food labels and advertising are found in both the Food and Drugs Act and the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act. CFIA is responsible for administering the provisions that relate to non-health-and-safety labelling in these acts.
As for what “Product of Canada” and “Made in Canada” mean today, our guidance to the food industry and information to consumers on how we interpret legislation relating to consumer protection are included in our Guide to Food Labelling and Advertising. Through that document, CFIA provides guidance to industry to better enable it to comply with the law.
Currently, the guidelines for the labelling and advertising of products of Canadian origin recommend that two basic criteria be met before manufacturers use Canadian origin statements. As with the guidance used by the Competition Bureau, these include the criteria that the last substantial transformation of the goods must have occurred in Canada, and that at least 51% of the total direct cost of producing or manufacturing the goods is Canadian. If these criteria cannot be met, companies may take the opportunity to make other voluntary statements about Canadian content; but these must be qualified with more specific and accurate claims, such as “Roasted in Canada” or Distilled in Canada” or “Packaged in Canada”. These guidelines are used by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to help companies comply with the laws that prevent false and misleading representations about the Canadian origin of food.
When assessing voluntary “Made in Canada” or “Product of Canada” claims, CFIA takes a case-by-case approach, because we do balance all factors, taking into account the nature of the food product and consumers’ expectations that may relate to that product.
We do recognize that Canada's food supply is increasingly global in nature and that Canadians are seeking clearer information about the foods they buy. In October 2007, in the Speech from the Throne, Prime Minister Stephen Harper did make clear the commitment to enhance the safety of foods and products imported into Canada and to provide information necessary to assist consumers in making informed decisions.
Further to that, on December 17, 2007, the Prime Minister did announce Canada's food and consumer safety action plan. This is a comprehensive set of proposed measures that will make Canadians safer by legislating tougher federal regulation of food, health, and consumer products. The action plan also includes a commitment to review the government's current policies on “Product of Canada” and “Made in Canada” claims on food labels and in food advertising. More information regarding these initiatives can be found on the new website, Healthy Canadians, at www.healthycanadians.gc.ca.
Furthermore, in the budget of 2008, the government did deliver further action on this commitment by identifying $113 million for the action plan to ensure that food safety systems evolve to meet some of these new challenges of the global market, and to provide clearer information to Canadians.
So we are taking active steps to review “Product of Canada” and “Made in Canada” labelling policies. We will be looking to that further. Any further action relating to the action plan will appear on the Healthy Canadians website.
In closing, we would like to thank you for allowing us to be here today. We would certainly welcome any questions you may have concerning CFIA's work in this area.