Canadian shoppers wanting to boycott US products are outraged that many retailers appear to be hiding “product of USA” labeled foods in a sneaky effort to sell the suddenly “toxic” inventory.
Complaints to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency about country of origin claims have skyrocketed across the country in February, as the trade war with the US escalates, the consumer watchdog told The Post.
Canadians have been boycotting US products and cancelling their American vacations en masse since President Trump announced 25% tariffs on Canadian goods and repeatedly threatened to make the country the 51st US state.
In many Canadian grocery stores, sold out shelves of Canadian or international produce can be seen next to fully-stocked shelves of their US-made counterparts, which routinely go on sale to liquidate inventory.
At a FreshCo in Toronto, carrots from the US were placed in a bin with a large promotional price sign that said “product of Canada,” a shopper told The Post.
Upon closer inspection, a little blue tag around the veggie could be seen that read “product of USA.”
In Vancouver, a shopper shouted at a store employee over mislabeled carrots. But it’s not just carrots – the issue has been reported for all produce, including citrus, leafy greens and all kinds of fruits and vegetables.
“It’s not the fact that I’m protesting against $7 bok choy, it’s the fact that Costco mislabeled it when it’s a US product and half of the country is currently hating on those asshats,” wrote one Canadian shopper on Reddit.
“Carry around a sharpie and correct the signs. That’s what I’m doing now, and many others have followed my lead,” replied another.
One Toronto customer told The Post there were at least half a dozen mislabeled items in the produce section of a local FreshCo supermarket.
“I actually changed grocery stores over this issue, because I don’t believe the amount of mislabeling at that store is unintentional. Grocery stores have slim margins, so I kinda sympathize. But not enough to reward dishonesty – or a lack of transparency,” said the shopper.
Some claimed that the deceptive signage is less about stores trying to push their US stockpiles onto consumers, and more about overworked employees who have to deal with a constantly-changing inventory.
The Post reached out to the Canadian grocery chains accused of mislabeling. Only two responded – Metro and Sobey’s, which owns Fresco, both attributed the mismatch to labeling errors, saying they were corrected once brought to the store’s attention.
After a 30-day pause, Trump said earlier this week the tariffs would become reality March 4, arguing Canada has not done enough to stop the flood the illegal drugs across the border.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said that reviews of the complaints are underway.