“Made in Canada” Food Labelling Rules to Kick in Next Year

(Canadian Press)

The Conservative government has fleshed out food labelling guidelines unveiled earlier this year by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz announced in Cornwall, Ont. that the new rules come into effect on Jan. 1, 2009, and apply to all foods produced from that day forward.

Under the new rules, foods labelled as a Canadian product must contain “all or virtually all contents” that are from Canada.

It’s currently legal to call a product “made in Canada” if 51 per cent of the production costs were incurred here and the final transformation of product was in Canada.

The government says 90 per cent of the 1,500 Canadians who filled out an online survey after Harper’s announcement in May agreed with the new guidelines.

The new guidelines come from the Food and Consumer Safety Action Plan announced by Harper in December.