Product of Canada? CFIA reviewing rising complaints of mislabeling – National [Video]

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says it’s seen an increase in complaints about items mislabelled as products of Canada or missing information about their country of origin.

The federal organization enforcing labelling standards on food products told The Canadian Press in an email late Tuesday that the rash of complaints have come in the last few months, when Canadians were increasingly supporting local businesses to fend off threatened tariffs from the U.S.

The CFIA is still reviewing the complaints it has received related to such labels and says it’s “too early” to tell if there has been non-compliance.

The spike was no surprise to Julia Kappler, a Montreal-based partner at law firm Gowling WLG, because she’s seen a product’s Canadian-ness become a selling point in the current political environment.

“People are scrutinizing product origin claims much more closely now than they were previously,” she said in an email.

“The issue has also become more …