Made in Canada? Better Check Again.

by Barry ORegan | July 18, 2007 at 05:40 am

479 views | 4 Recommendations | 3 comments

Opinion

Barry Artiste, Now Public Contributor

The saying an apple a day, may keep the doctor away, may make you sick requiring you to make a visit to the doctor since the majority of apple concentrate coming into this country comes from China. It is well known the majority of concentrated apple juice from China, is then exported to Canada where it is mixed with Canadian water and is packaged in Canada and then labeled Made in Canada. Deceptive advertising? Consumers say yes, Canadian manufacturers say no!

There have not been any reported illnesses from Apple Juice to date, but the old Snow White syndrome may one day rear its ugly head, requiring more than a kiss from a prince to cure those ails when you're opening the "Sluices from both orfices" while making sweet love to the ivory bowl.

Somehow, Canadians may want to rethink the adage of the apple a day theory, as the rash of contaminates recently introduced by Chinese exports from Asian manufacturers of consumer goods do not seem to be getting any better.

My Final Thought.

Why would we be importing Apple Concentrate from Asia or even the USA, when we have an apple industry in this country? By importing apples, we will be ensuring our Canadian apple industry dies a quick death, resulting again on Canadians relying on imports and being a consumer only country with no manufacturing backbone to be self sufficient. If a natural disaster befell these countries we Canadians would be left high and dry and to the mercy of Global Monopolies of Canadian Manufacturers who would raise consumer prices in an instant, much like the gasoline industry. With an impending dead Canadian apple industry, much like a lot of Canadian industries who are pushed out of the market by cheap goods, a monopoly would ensue where one global manufacturer controls everything for a price which we will all one day pay dearly for. Will Canadians act on this article? Most likely no, Canadians only react when a crisis reaches the pinnacle of their pocket book, but then it will be too late.

China has a population of 1.3 billion people, but there are reportedly only 300 people working at the Beijing State Environmental Protection Administration overseeing people's health.

It's in that kind of lackadaisical regulatory climate where a bun maker can add chopped up cardboard to his filling. China Central Television ran a piece on the icky buns last week.

Makes you wonder whether any athletes - never mind visitors - are keen to head to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. No doubt, China will make sure food safety is top-notch for the foreigners. After that, the regulatory process will undoubtedly resume its usual slipshod ways and ordinary Chinese citizens will continue to be sickened.

As for Western consumers, sorting out what's made in China and what's not is virtually impossible. The ingredients may come from China - or any other country - but if 51% of the value stems from work done in Canada, it's entitled to a "Made in Canada" label.

Bruce Cran, head of the Consumers' Association of Canada, thinks that's dishonest. A huge amount of apple concentrate comes from China, gets mixed with water here and is labelled Canadian-made, he notes.

"You don't know what you're drinking," he says. "We demand to see the country of origin on every food item."

Without such labelling, consumers can't make informed choices, says Cran.

So true, but if a Canadian gets sick from eating Canadian grown produce, at least we have recourse in sicking CFIA and other Departments on their asses. Whereby China is out of reach for these departments, except ineffective protests. It's easier to monitor enforceable Quality Control of Canadian Manufacturers at home than foriegn companies abroad whose hygeine habits when it comes to quality control is questionable.

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