With many Prince Edward Islanders committed to buying Canadian products in the midst of a trade war with the United States, some are learning that figuring out what country a product is from can be complicated.
One shopper at a Sobeys in Charlottetown recently noticed a produce bin stating that the food was from “U.S.A. or Mexico,” without specifying which of the two countries it was actually from.
Jackie Rumney emailed the grocery chain’s head office to find out why. She was told that the stores receive produce from multiple locations daily, and it’s “difficult to differentiate as the bins are constantly being stocked.”
“That didn’t sit well with me because of the fact that all of the produce in the stores have little stickers on them stating the country of origin,” Rumney told CBC News.
“Right now, all of us Canadians are trying to shop Canadian as much as possible, and when you see something like that, it’s making it very hard to do that. We need transparent, clear signs that articulate what country of origin our food is coming from.”
Saying she hasn’t noticed this type of label at other grocery stores she’s checked, Rumney acknowledges she might have seen the produce sign at Sobeys before the trade war broke out.
But now, with the U.S. continuing to slap tariffs on many Canadian products and a growing movement to boycott American goods, the country of origin is top of mind for her.
