The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has just unveiled a national set of standards that products must now meet in order to be designated "organic."
The new rules require that products with multiple
ingredients must have 95 per cent organic content in order to be labelled with
the new Biologique Canada Organic Logo.
Many in the blogosphere are welcoming the new standards – ‘Wow, that only took ten years’ – while others find it doesn’t go far enough – ‘95%. Partially organic isn’t organic. Sorry’.
The standards apply to food and drink intended for consumption, livestock, livestock feed and the cultivation of plants.
Are Canadians buying organics?
In a January 2007 survey, Ipsos Reid asked Canadians if they had bought the following versions of food when purchasing groceries in the past six months: organic, locally grown, fair trade, free range, and sustainably farmed.
Here are the top two scores (usually and sometimes) for each version nationally. Canadians appear to see more benefits from locally grown food judging by what they buy.
- Organic 12%
- Locally grown 42%
- Fair trade 9%
- Free range 13%
- Sustainably farmed 13%
And while there are no significant regional differences among Canadians who say they always/usually buy locally grown food, there are significantly more residents of Quebec and the Prairies who say they rarely/never do.
A look at what Canadians view as the benefits of buying locally grown fruits and vegetables might offer part of the reason why some Quebeckers are relatively less supportive of locally grown produce; they are significantly less likely than Canadians in the ROC to say that it supports family farmers.
This may explain why the MangezQuebec campaign seems to be more about healthy eating with Quebec-grown fruits and vegetables than about supporting local producers. And, in case you’re wondering, that’s Quebec star nutritionist Dr. Isabelle Huot.
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