Many environmentally-conscious people would like to buy locally grown food products. Businesses and restaurants hope to attract such custom by advertising food as “locally grown” or “locally produced”.
However, in a country as large as Canada, that definition can be quite tricky.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has long had a rule which says the “local” label can only be used on menus and items that originated within 50 kilometres of where they’re sold, or no more than one community over.
Because of complaints that rule was too restrictive, the CFIA has created interim rules while they further study the issue. These interim rules state “local” can –at least temporarily- mean anywhere in the province, and up to 50km outside the province.
Javier Alarco, executive chef at the Hotel Delta Prince Edward, on Prince Edward Island, told CBC News that definition makes sense in a very small province like P.E.I., but not necessarily in some other provinces. “Ontario or Quebec being so big, that local is literally almost one third of the country away,” said Alarco. Indeed Ontario alone is larger than all of France and Spain combined, or well over 8 times the size of England. Even products grown in Ontario can travel anywhere from a few kilometrs to over 1000 kilometres to where they’re sold elsewhere in the same province.
Chef Alarco says he’s in favour of simply labelling specifically where the food comes from and people can determine on their own if it’s local enough for them.
Meanwhile, at least one operation, a co-op store in British Columbia is fighting against the expanded definition of “local”, calling it a sell-out to large grocery chains.
However when asked by CBC reporters, several food-serving and selling businesses said they weren’t even aware of regulations regarding the use of the term “local”.
In a statement earlier this month, the CFIA says it will clarify its rules “in the coming weeks” adding that use of the term “local” is voluntary, and suggest vendors use additional information such as the name of an originating city for consumers benefit.
Canadian Food Inspection Agency-Local food labelling
For reasons beyond our control, and for an undetermined period of time, our comment section is now closed. However, our social networks remain open to your contributions.