Fishing for Canadian seafood at the grocery store? Labels may not tell the whole story

A commercialized warfare with the United States and China has spurred galore Canadians to bargain local, but seafood lovers looking for genuinely made-in-Canada options whitethorn find speechmaking market store labels challenging.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency requires seafood to beryllium labelled according to wherever it was processed, not wherever it was caught oregon farmed, meaning food from Canadian waters could beryllium labelled arsenic an planetary product.

"Because seafood is specified a planetary commodity and has a precise analyzable proviso chain, you're often not going to spot a merchandise that is some caught and processed successful the aforesaid country," said Christina Callegari, elder co-ordinator for marine programs astatine the Ecology Action Centre, successful a caller interrogation connected CBC Radio's Information Morning Halifax.

"Often times, seafood gets shipped disconnected to China to beryllium processed and past tin beryllium sent backmost to Canada ... and past it gets labelled arsenic a merchandise of China."

Callegari added that national regulations for "Made In Canada" and "Product Of Canada" labels person antithetic standards, so she recommends consumers looking to bargain Canadian seafood instrumentality with the second label. 

"If you person a statement that says 'Product Of Canada,' the guidance suggest that that should beryllium a merchandise that is some caught and farmed and processed successful Canada," she said. "But again, this is besides lone voluntary, truthful manufacture doesn't really request to enactment this connected a label."

Callegari is besides a subordinate of SeaChoice, a collaboration betwixt the Halifax-based Ecology Action Centre, the David Suzuki Foundation and the Living Oceans Society that advocates for sustainability and traceability passim the seafood proviso chain.

Recently, Callegari attended the Seafood Expo North America successful Boston, wherever she said overmuch of the chatter was around tariffs from China and the U.S.

U.S. President Donald Trump has imposed 25 per cent tariffs connected immoderate Canadian goods, ostensibly to spur enactment connected fentanyl and migrants astatine the bluish border. A 25 per cent levy connected alloy and aluminum imports was aboriginal tacked on, with additional retaliatory tariffs expected April 2 that volition people seafood, among different Canadian exports.

Meanwhile, China slapped a 25 per cent tariff connected aggregate Canadian seafood products connected March 20 in retaliation for levies Canada brought successful October connected steel, aluminum and electrical vehicles. The database of implicit 40 Canadian products facing the tariff includes lobster, crab, shrimp and halibut.

Go to the source

Callegari encourages consumers who privation to cognize wherever their seafood came from and wherever it was processed spell to fishmongers, markets oregon to fishers straight to bargain their products.

"Being capable to physically speech to the idiosyncratic and person them picture to you wherever it was caught, however it was caught and what taxon it is, is simply a truly large mode to effort to enactment section and marque definite that that merchandise is coming from wherever you privation it to travel from," she said. 

SeaChoice has been calling for improved labelling that would specify not lone where but how the merchandise was caught oregon farmed and processed, arsenic good arsenic the technological sanction of the species. 

Callegari said the European Union, which requires that accusation connected the bulk of its seafood, is the "gold standard" for labelling regulations and Canada should travel its boat-to-plate model. 

"On the user side, if you're looking for a sustainable product, it's truly important to cognize these criteria due to the fact that it tin assistance you marque a decision," she said.

"On the manufacture side, it tin beryllium adjuvant because of people if you're wanting to marque radical cognize that your merchandise is Canadian or it is from Nova Scotia, having that connected a statement is truly adjuvant from a selling position and truthful that our section fishermen aren't being, you know, chopped retired of the market."