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

In the absence of other clarifying information, the CFIA interprets the terms "local", "locally grown", or any similar term, to mean that the food:

  1. originated within 50 km of the place where they are sold, measured directly, point to point, or;
  2. meets the definition of "local food" in section B.01.012 of the Food and Drug Regulations (FDR),

whichever condition is least restrictive.

Another way that regulated parties may avoid misleading the consumer when using the term "local", "locally grown", or any similar term is to provide clarifying information about the origin of the food (e.g. "Local Produce from Ingersoll, Ontario").

As stated in section B.01.012. of the FDR, "local food" means a food that is manufactured, processed, produced or packaged in a local government unit and sold only in:

  1. the local government unit in which it is manufactured, processed or packaged,
  2. one or more local government units that are immediately adjacent to the one in which it is manufactured, processed, produced or packaged, or
  3. the local government unit in which it is manufactured, processed, produced or packaged and in one or more local government units that are immediately adjacent to the one in which it is manufactured, processed, produced or packaged.

A "local government unit" means a city, metropolitan area, town, village, municipality or other area of local government.