Origin Claims

In some cases, a company may choose to voluntarily declare the country of origin of the food product on the label, in order to further assist consumers in their purchasing decisions. A company may also choose to apply an origin claim regarding their food product or an ingredient contained within their food product. Guidance on the use of these types of claims can be found below.

Multiple Country of Origin Statements

The use of a voluntary multi-country of origin statement (e.g. "Product of France and United States") is not acceptable. In this context, a product can only have one country of origin, which, at a minimum, is the country of last substantial transformation. All claims must be truthful and not misleading; declaring multiple countries of origin on the label may result in false information.

A blended claim, such as "A blend of [Naming the country] (naming the product) and [Naming the country] (naming the product)", may be considered (e.g. "A blend of Brazilian and American soybean oil").

Guidance on the use of a voluntary multi-country of origin statement that includes or makes reference to Canada can be found on the "Product of Canada" webpage.

Claims Regarding the Origin of Ingredients within a Food

A product may make a claim regarding the origin of ingredients within a food, provided the claim is truthful and not misleading (e.g. "Contains Italian olive oil") In addition to this claim, a company may choose to highlight the amount of an ingredient in the product (e.g. "10% Italian olive oil"). Further guidance on stressing or highlighting particular ingredients can be found in Section 4.2 of the Guide to Food Labelling and Advertising.

Guidance on the use of claims regarding the Canadian origin of ingredients within a food can be found on the "Product of Canada" webpage.

"Local" Claims

The CFIA is adopting an interim policy which recognizes "local" as:

  • food produced in the province or territory in which it is sold, or
  • food sold across provincial borders within 50 km of the originating province or territory