‘Maple washing’ violations spiked this year, food watchdog data shows

Consumer complaints about “maple washing,” companies mislabelling food products as Canadian, have soared since the start of the year – and many of them have merit, according to the country’s food regulator.

An analysis by The Globe and Mail of data from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency found the number of consumer complaints rose by 53 per cent, from 288 in 2025 to 441 between January and early October of this year.

The data also show the CFIA has so far recorded around 130 cases of non-compliance this year relating to country of origin after looking into the complaints, a 73 per cent increase compared to 75 such cases registered in all of 2025.

The surge in consumer complaints shows the public remains vigilant about Canadian content claims more than a year-and-a-half after the onset of the trade war.

But, at the same time, the spike in non-compliance suggests that companies are struggling to satisfy shoppers’ increased appetite for Canadian food products, in part because of difficulties in sourcing domestically, industry experts said.

In total, the agency has received 675 consumer complaints relating to origin claims since November 2024, when U.S. President Donald Trump was elected to his second term. Of those complaints, it found that 205, or about 30 per cent, had merit, while another 233 involved consumer submissions that were missing information or were referred to other parts of government.

The violations can result in consequences ranging from formal reprimand letters to fines and even recommending prosecution in the most serious cases, the agency said.

However, none of the 205 consumer complaint cases recorded since November 2024 have triggered monetary penalties, it said.

The CFIA has also published a separate list of 12 companies that have received more serious warnings and fines since November 2024, resulting from violations identified through on-site inspections, including subsidiaries of Loblaw Companies Ltd., Metro Inc. and Empire Company Ltd., which owns the Sobeys chain.

The CFIA did not confirm how many, if any of those 12 cases may have overlapped with companies mentioned in the 675 complaints.

Spokespeople for Empire and Loblaw said in e-mails to The Globe that because major grocers stock tens of thousands of products, signage errors happen, adding that they work quickly to fix problems.

Metro spokesperson Marie-Claude Bacon wrote in an e-mail that the company had reviewed its records and was “not aware of any warning” from the CFIA.

Misleading claims about products’ provenance have been a sore spot for consumers since the start of the trade war, which has fuelled a desire to “buy Canadian.”

It’s unclear whether the recent surge in complaints is driven by increased consumer scrutiny of food labels or more frequent mislabelling by companies, or both. But the problem isn’t just be about retailers and food producers trying to profit off of patriotic sentiment.

Industry watchers say the phenomenon raises questions about whether the bar for making Canadian content claims is too high, as companies continue to face challenges sourcing domestically while keeping prices low.

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Under current regulations, for example, products manufactured in the country using Canadian-grown core ingredients can be excluded from the “Product of Canada” designation simply because they contain small amounts of imported ingredients, such as salt or vinegar, said Kristina Farrell chief executive at Food and Beverage Canada, a non-profit organization which represents manufacturers.

The broader “Made in Canada” designation, meanwhile, can apply to products containing significant imported content, provided the final substantial transformation takes place in the country and the claim is qualified.

FBC wants to see changes to rules governing which products can legitimately be labelled as Canadian.

Another issue is price. Relying more heavily on Canadian ingredients and suppliers often drives up prices at a time when consumers are already price-sensitive due to rising costs, said Gurpreet Brar, consumer markets and agriculture leader at PwC Canada.

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“The biggest gap is between what consumers want and what can be produced and priced at scale in Canada today,” Mr. Brar said.

All the things that companies need to step up their ability to source Canadian – expanding domestic processing capacity, adopting new technology and automation, strengthening supply chains – are capital-intensive, he said, while many government funding programs are reimbursement-based and discretionary.

“The question isn’t just whether Canadians will pay more for ‘Made in Canada,’ but how much more,” Mr. Brar said.

The industry is hopeful that the government’s recently launched Food Security Strategy, which pledged more than $3-billion over 10 years to expand domestic capacity, will make it easier to source Canadian by fuelling investment in things such as greenhouses and cold storage.

“If we want to see more Canadian-made products on grocery shelves at competitive prices, we need to make Canada a more competitive place to manufacture food and beverages,” FBC’s Ms. Farrell said.