Thank you to all for the education. So, "Product of Canada", might be owned by Americans? How can Canadians tell the difference??
this post was submitted on 26 Aug 2026
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You need to a) check to see where the product is made - your "Product of Canada" label does that part - you then need to b) check to see who owns the parent company. For example, Canadians love Habitant soups - Habitant soups are a) made in the US and b) owned by Campbells which is an American company so that one strikes out on two fronts.
It's not easy and requires a lot of research but as you become more and more familiar with which brands are truly Canadian (i.e. - made in Canada and owned by Canadians) it becomes easier to buy Canadian.
They ruined Habitant, it's pretty terrible now, you aren't missing out.
100 - check out Sprague if you want a relatively easily available truly Canadian soup brand - you may have to go to a few stores but they are popping up at more and more places since this all started
made in my hometown of Belleville!
We need new labels: Who is profiting from this product???
We do - we need something like Australia has where they show how Australian a product is (made there by a foreign company, made elsewhere by an Australian company, made there by an Australian company) - their labels even show the percentage of ingredients that come from Australia - we are nowhere close (yet!) to that level of transparency mostly because NAFTA and CUSMA have made it something people didn't care about it - until now :)
Yeah, is it a Canadian or US billionaire?
In the end, I would suggest not buying these products at all. Buy Canadian flour that was made from Canadian wheat. Make your own pancakes instead of using these ultra processed products.
Or even better, make waffles instead.
This. It's really not hard. Just takes a few minutes
Also, eggs are optional. You can use flax or chia seeds. Or a banana.
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Madeinca.ca is a great website that breaks it down a bit. You can just put in the product name.
Of course, it doesn't cover everything and the other response has a good way to check stuff yourself.
I did a quick google. Hope this helps peopleβs choices
"Made in Canada" means that at least 51% of the product's costs originate in Canada and the last substantial transformation occurred there. In contrast, "Product of Canada" requires that 98% of the product's materials and production be of Canadian origin.
Dam I didn't know that TY
Pearl Milling Company is a brand owned by PepsiCo, so I don't think it's any more Canadian than the others?
No Name and President's Choice being the Loblaws store brands would arguably make them more Canadian (though the companies making the white-label products might be American).
This picture was taken in "No Frills" today. The only box that said Product of Canada was Pearl Milling. All the other brands said Product of USA.
Product of Canada just means "made in Canada" - so by that definition Pepsi is a Product of Canada since the Pepsi products sold on the shelves here are manufactured in Canadian plants but said plants are owned by PepsiCo
And that just means some part of the process was done in Canada. If you're a Canadian wanting to buy a product packaged, manufactured, grown, shipped and everything elsneinc anada, it's impossible to know.
They may have facilities in Canada, at least employing Canadians.
Pearl Milling Company products are just a rebrand from Aunt Jemima.
Ok then. Just did some research. WTF?? So, Product of Canada does NOT mean what we think. I think we need new guidelines: Product of Canada needs to mean: Canadian Company. And, thank you to all for the education! Most appreciated!
The only effective enforcement is us voting with our wallets anyways.
Plus standardizing is also kinda pointless cuz people are drawing their own lines. Like if you live near a Canadian manufacturing plant that makes an American branded product you'll probably be more inclined to purchase those brands that are at least produced here, if not fully owned.
Meanwhile others are going eschew everything not 100% Canadian.
I think naming and shaming brands that deceptively adopt Canadian branding is the best way forward.
Agreed. But when a package says: Product of Canada, and then I find out the profits are actually going to the USA?? WTF?
Totally but those are net profits. If it's produced here part of the gross revenue is staying here in the form of labour costs, utilities, and taxes.
Ultimately the demand for 100% Canadian products will drive supply and we'll have more better options in the future.
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"Product of Canada" means the manufacturing happened in Canada and the majority of ingredients are of Canadian origin. It does not have any relevance to who owns the company.
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For me , purchasing decisions happen on a sliding scale with "product of Canada, Canadian owned company" at the top of the scale, and "made in USA" at the bottom.
But between those extremes there are things like: "made in Canada by foreign owned company", "made using Canadian ingredients", and "made in any country that isn't the USA" which can be acceptable choices if a better category isn't available.
Not just a rebrand, it's pretty obviously a move to avoid having an uncomfortable conversation in favour of whitewashed history.
Pearl Milling is Canadian.
Nope.
Owned by PepsiCo and headquartered out of Chicago, you may know them by their old name (same box): Aunt Jemima.
Its very easy to make pancake mix ahead of schedule. Can buy local ingredients and just mix them.
Agreed. Now, is the flour I'm buying that says "Product of Canada" actually a product of Canada?? I'm finding that "Product of Canada" doesn't actually mean Canada is getting the profits...
Is bulk barn safe?
Bulk barn is Canadian, but you'd have to look at where the products are from. They were labelling them; I'm not sure if they still are.
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I found our local save-on has flour from a local mill about 100kms away for sale. And I have a place that has local flour from another mill within 200kms. So you could try to find things like that if you want to get real local.
thank you for your service
I'm disappointed by how some grocery stores are still giving so much frontage to US products
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Sunny Boy is Canadian. Based in Edmonton with their mill in Camrose, they source and manufacture locally. Great pancake mix and great porridge.
If you can't get it locally, ask your store manager to bring it in.
Farine Five Roses out of MontrΓ©al
I like you, you take initiative
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