Part 13 of the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations, Organic Products, applies to products traded between provinces, as well as products exported to other countries or imported into Canada. What happens when locally produced products are sold within the same province?
British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Quebec and New-Brunswick have instituted intraprovincial organic regulations requiring certification of products labelled as ‘organic’.
Other provinces have established various organic agriculture support programs, but no regulations have been adopted to require producers or processors of locally produced organic products to have their operations certified. Consumers who buy locally produced products that claim to be “organic” must contact their province or territory’s consumer protection bureau to check the product’s organic authenticity.
In any case, all products labelled in Canada must comply with the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act. Section 7 stipulates:
Section 7. (1) No dealer shall apply to any pre-packaged product or sell, import into Canada or advertise any pre-packaged product that has applied to it a label containing any false or misleading representation that relates to or may reasonably be regarded as relating to that product.
— Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-38, clause 7 (1))
