You Need To Know How To Crack The Code On Food Label Claims

Last week I attended Health Professionals Day at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto. One of the presenters, Dr. Amy Bowen, Research Program Leader of Consumer Insights at the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre, highlighted that many Canadians are confused about the healthy food label claims we hear from the people and places we see, discover, learn about and buy food.

For example, some Canadians think that “local food” means the same as “organic food” or “sustainable food”. Many people even think that all these definitions can be used in the same ways to describe the same foods.

Definitions of local organic and sustainable food sm

I remember how confusing it was when I first started learning more about where my food came from!

I thought organic meant no pesticides whatsoever, I thought local always meant within 100 miles of my house, and sustainable? Well, I didn’t know what that meant at all!

So, if you’re struggling to properly define some or all of these terms and how they might affect the choices you make at your farmer’s market, local farm or grocery store, here is some hopefully helpful information to guide you.  

Healthy Food Label Claims

Healthy Food Label Claim #1: Local Food

The first healthy food label claim we’re going to explore is “local food”.

Local food, in a nutshell, refers to foods grown locally. It refers to where food is produced rather than how it is produced.

Unfortunately, there is no standardized local food definition.

For some, this means food grown within 100 miles (or maybe 160 km for those of us using the metric system). For others, local food is grown within the province or within the country.

In the grocery store, produce and food products grown and/or produced within the province of Ontario, for example, may carry the Foodland Ontario label. This food can then be identified differently than foreign or imported products.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) conducted a labelling study on how to, among other things, define local food. It developed an interim policy that, although very broad, provides some guidance:

  • food produced in the province or territory in which it is sold, or
  • food sold across provincial borders within 50 km of the originating province or territory“.

Foodland Ontario has a handy produce availability guide that is very helpful for determining whether your fruit or vegetable is in season. If it’s in season, it is more likely to be grown locally.

Foodland Ontario also has specific guidelines for many commodities, from fruit to vegetables to maple syrup. You can check out its food label claims and definitions on its website.

Healthy Food Label Claim #2: Organic Food

Organic food refers to foods grown without synthetic pesticides. It refers to how food is produced.

There is an added layer of complication because foods may be labelled certified organic or simply organic (but not necessarily certified). Certification by an accredited body is a fairly lengthy, expensive process, and smaller local farms in particular may not be able to afford to achieve or maintain the certification.

This is true of some food sold via a farmer’s market or Community-Supported Agricultural (CSA) program.

On the other hand, food sold as “organic” at the grocery store is always, to my knowledge, certified organic. It is often grown and sold by large farms in the U.S. and/or Canada.

If you are able to buy direct from farms via CSA programs or farmer’s markets, it’s well worth asking your farmer about the practices they use to grow and produce the food they sell. In this case, your food is more likely to be both organic AND local.

Healthy Food Label Claim #3: Sustainable Food

Sustainable food is another term that lacks a global standardized definition and it was difficult for me to even find a working definition of it. It’s a bit of a buzzword actually!

I appreciate Eco & Beyond’s review of food sustainability factors, including:

  • Sustainable Farming Practices
  • Low Environmental Impact
  • Upholding Animal Welfare
  • Protection of Public Health
  • Good Employment practices and Community Support

You can read more about these sustainable food factors, as well as their 9 tips for eating more sustainably.

I’ll be learning more about local foods, organic foods and I’m sure, sustainable foods at the Bring Food Home Conference in Sudbury this weekend.

But no matter how you define local, sustainable and organic foods, let’s aim to make sure more of it ends up on our plates!

Life is a plate… Eat up,

Ashleigh

P.S. This article was updated in August 2023 to remove broken links & include updated sources.

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