TORONTO—A new study suggests more than half of Canadians, especially those with health conditions, are worried the foods they’re buying are not what labels claim—and preventing falling victim to such scams can be difficult, experts say.
In an online survey conducted by researchers at Dalhousie University, 63 percent of respondents said they were concerned about the widespread practice known as food fraud. Notably, worries about counterfeit food products coming from Canada were even greater in those study participants with food intolerances.
That’s likely because the fallout for someone with allergies eating a mislabelled product can be severe, says lead researcher Sylvain Charlebois. He calls food fraud “the big elephant in the room.”
“People are aware of the problem, they just don’t know how to deal with it,” Charlebois said.
Ingredient lists are lifelines for people with food allergies, says Beatrice Povolo, the director of advocacy and media relations for Food Allergy Canada, a non-profit organization advocating on behalf of people with food allergies.
“They count on that to be accurate and truthful and complete in order for them to make a decision of whether that would be a suitable product or not,” she said, adding that deliberate ingredient substitutions are not on the organization’s radar at the moment.
