The company is now listening to consumers, not just customers, in an effort to grow
Maple Leaf Foods is not just pretending to be environmentally friendly, it is trying to be a trailblazer. The company has just adopted science-based targets that will help it become the first major agri-food company in the world to be carbon neutral. It’s so un-Canadian to be first, to set a world standard, especially in […] Read more
Many will feel abandoned by a company that long-championed livestock producers
When McDonald’s makes a move, everyone pays attention. That’s just the way things are in the food-service industry. For months, rumours were swirling around McDonald’s and when it would launch a plant-based product. We now know McDonald’s will enter the plant-based game by running a pilot in Ontario. The pilot project will last 12 weeks. […] Read more
Some restaurant chains are offering non-meat burgers, while others double down on beef
The great “protein war” is heating up as several major restaurant chains are either embracing the plant-based movement while others firmly position themselves as guardians of the mighty meat eater. It’s getting confusing with all these announcements, hard to keep track. A&W, Canada’s first Beyond Meat ambassador, started it all a little over 12 months […] Read more
Critics say this effort has gone awry and is now firmly in the realm of ‘absence claim abuse’
Most consumers have seen the Non-GMO logos on bread and many other food products while shopping at the grocery store. Today in North America, the Non-GMO Project Verified logo is on over 50,000 food products that bring in more than US$30 billion in retail sales. The green leaves and the orange butterfly are literally everywhere […] Read more
There’s more than a whiff of classism, and even sexism, in smug criticism of this maligned food type
Ultra-processed foods, a term coined by a Brazilian pediatrician many years ago, have been targeted as a menace to society for quite some time. Few have dared to counter the argument and this massive movement has clearly influenced policies around the world. However, the socio-economic implications of discouraging consumers to interact with these products have […] Read more
They’re using every tool they can to undermine Canada’s quality food brand, and we're losing the battle
Canada is losing the game of food safety optics against China. While Canada has demonstrated many times that its food safety record is outstanding, in fact, one of the best in the world, none of it matters now. Since Meng Wanzhou, the vice-president of Huawei, was arrested in Vancouver in December 2018, China has been […] Read more
Divisive and self-righteous tactics could easily backfire at a crucial moment
Vegan groups are using billboards these days in the Atlantic region to denounce dairy farming practices, and telling consumers that dairy is scary. Some of these ads show a picture of a young calf, saying that someone “took its mom, its milk, then its life.” All this is to encourage people to switch to a […] Read more
The U.S.-Mexico dispute could translate into both opportunities and perils for Canada
In an unprecedented move recently, and in a single tweet, President Trump opted to impose five per cent tariffs on all Mexican imports until the illegal immigration issue gets resolved. As the world has now realized, when the White House is willing to intertwine both foreign and trade policies, markets around the world tumbled. In […] Read more
Canadian companies are being hampered by too much government oversight
The regulation of food industries has always been necessary. In the western world, successive governments have successfully played the anti-business card by implementing regulations so that consumers and the public at large feel someone is looking out for them. But at times, governments are known to flirt with populist measures in their attempt to gain […] Read more
Plant-based nutrition is alive and well in Canada, according to a recent poll. The poll from Angus Reid Global, in partnership with Dalhousie University, found that by April 2019, 38 per cent of Canadians had tried a plant-based protein food item in recent months. The Beyond Meat phenomenon certainly has something to do with it. […] Read more
