A Metro shopper complained about orange juice labeled "Canadian." Nobody could tell him why the badge was there. Here's what your grocery labels actually mean, and don't.
And .... for what seems like the 6 millionth time. Why do we continually shit on Canadian businesses while Walmart and Costco are not in the spotlight. Do people not understand this distinction, or is our protest mainly symbolic?
Recently went into the local Nature’s Fare an “organic” food and product shop owned by Jim Pattison Group in BC.
So many American products and many not organic. Nothing labeled to distinguish place of origin.
It’s owned by the same company as Buy-Low Foods, Urban Fare, Quality Foods, Nesters Market, Choices Markets, PriceSmart Foods, Meinhardt Fine Foods, but mainly Save-On-Foods.
Also went shopping at Costco and spent ages peering at packaging trying to find pertinent information to determine whether to put the product into my basket. There isn’t any unified placement or size, so I’m flipping all the items around trying to find what I’m looking for. Got caught out four times and honestly, by the end of that trip, I was exhausted.
I downloaded an app, but it wasn’t super useful as it requires one to type in multiple lines of information to find out if an item is Canadian. More cumbersome than just looking at the packaging myself.
Having worked for a Jimmy Pattison owned company that once wasn't owned by him, I can tell you that the difference is incredible. Mr. Pattison's companies seem to have that stock market ethic. Do anything to save a penny and make the quarterly report look good, even if in the long term it ends up ruining what the business used to be. Customer satisfaction means nothing. Employee satisfaction means nothing. Product quality means nothing. Only profit matters. Profit must be absolutely maximized. A good profit is never good enough. Since that employment experience, I refuse to shop at any Pattison owned store. There are more important things than money.
And then there's the labelling for organic food. Americans can use the Canadian logo that gurarantees the product is organic. It's a maple leaf and when I first saw it, I thought nice Canadian product. Then I read the label - Product of USA.
Aside from the tariffs, the other reason I dug into this topic is that I walked into the local Co-Op store a couple of days ago. All fruit labeling (showing origin) has been removed. We are allowing the Rob-laws and other big grocery chains to slide backward, and we need to demand better.
To be honest with you, I prefer no flags on the shelf. I will scan the barcode with Maple Scan or Buy Beaver to determine food origin rather than trust what the shelf stocker was told to do. And if that fails, then I will read the label and make up my own mind.
And .... for what seems like the 6 millionth time. Why do we continually shit on Canadian businesses while Walmart and Costco are not in the spotlight. Do people not understand this distinction, or is our protest mainly symbolic?
An excellent article. I look forward to part 2.
Recently went into the local Nature’s Fare an “organic” food and product shop owned by Jim Pattison Group in BC.
So many American products and many not organic. Nothing labeled to distinguish place of origin.
It’s owned by the same company as Buy-Low Foods, Urban Fare, Quality Foods, Nesters Market, Choices Markets, PriceSmart Foods, Meinhardt Fine Foods, but mainly Save-On-Foods.
Also went shopping at Costco and spent ages peering at packaging trying to find pertinent information to determine whether to put the product into my basket. There isn’t any unified placement or size, so I’m flipping all the items around trying to find what I’m looking for. Got caught out four times and honestly, by the end of that trip, I was exhausted.
I downloaded an app, but it wasn’t super useful as it requires one to type in multiple lines of information to find out if an item is Canadian. More cumbersome than just looking at the packaging myself.
Having worked for a Jimmy Pattison owned company that once wasn't owned by him, I can tell you that the difference is incredible. Mr. Pattison's companies seem to have that stock market ethic. Do anything to save a penny and make the quarterly report look good, even if in the long term it ends up ruining what the business used to be. Customer satisfaction means nothing. Employee satisfaction means nothing. Product quality means nothing. Only profit matters. Profit must be absolutely maximized. A good profit is never good enough. Since that employment experience, I refuse to shop at any Pattison owned store. There are more important things than money.
Try Maple Scan which scans the bar code. It's pretty reliable.
Thank you.
You are quite welcome.
And then there's the labelling for organic food. Americans can use the Canadian logo that gurarantees the product is organic. It's a maple leaf and when I first saw it, I thought nice Canadian product. Then I read the label - Product of USA.
Aside from the tariffs, the other reason I dug into this topic is that I walked into the local Co-Op store a couple of days ago. All fruit labeling (showing origin) has been removed. We are allowing the Rob-laws and other big grocery chains to slide backward, and we need to demand better.
To be honest with you, I prefer no flags on the shelf. I will scan the barcode with Maple Scan or Buy Beaver to determine food origin rather than trust what the shelf stocker was told to do. And if that fails, then I will read the label and make up my own mind.
Produce in Superstore this weekend had NO information re: country of origin.