More than a year after the Buy Canadian movement took root, grocery giants Loblaw and Sobeys are facing increased scrutiny over “maple washing” — the practice of promoting imported goods as homegrown. 

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) slapped two Loblaw-owned stores in January with $10,000 fines each for maple washing, and one month later, two other Loblaw-owned stores got formal warnings for the same violation, CBC News has learned.

Sobeys is also on the CFIA’s radar. The federal food regulator told CBC it has received multiple complaints about the grocer and maple washing and has wrapped up an investigation into advertising practices overseen by Sobeys’ head office. 

The probe resulted in no fines because “corrective actions” were taken, the CFIA said in an email.

Meanwhile, Sobeys appears to have phased out the iconic red maple leaf symbol it introduced last year to highlight Canadian products in stores.

Over the past two weeks, CBC visited nine Sobeys and Sobeys-owned Safeway locations in Halifax, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver. We found the once-ubiquitous symbol had all but disappeared, leaving products such as Tim Hortons coffee and Real Dairy ice cream with no store marker to flag their Canadian connection.

Sobeys did not respond to requests for comment. But the grocer’s parent company, Empire, told The Canadian Press in late March that it was starting to remove some Canadian signage because shoppers are capable of figuring out where their food comes from.

Consumer advocate Jay Jackson suggests the CFIA investigation — which was already underway in March — may have motivated the grocer to ditch the symbol. 

“They know that the government is watching closer,” said Jackson, a former senior analyst with Canada’s Competition Bureau. 

“They are trying to protect themselves.”

As maple-washing cases mount, Jackson says fed up shoppers are demanding the CFIA crack down hard on grocers that break the rules.

“The public, I think, is probably secretly furious about misrepresentation, especially when it comes to made in Canada claims,” he said.

“I do believe they expect higher fines, more enforcement.”

However, fines for maple washing have been rare.

Since the start of 2025, the CFIA has identified 127 cases where retailers promoted imported food as Canadian. But so far, the agency has issued only two fines — the ones handed out to the Loblaw stores.

California walnuts promoted as Canadian

The lack of penalties is disappointing for Steve Palmer. Over the past year, he’s filed eight complaints with the CFIA about maple washing at one Loblaw store and two Sobeys-owned locations in southwest Nova Scotia. 

“I am horrified with the length of time this has gone on that there’s not a fine,” said Palmer, a retired large-animal veterinarian.

His complaints include Egyptian oranges promoted at a Loblaw-owned Superstore with a “Product of Canada” claim and a red maple symbol, and California walnuts displayed with the same symbol at a Sobeys.

“There is nothing Canadian about these,” said Palmer, holding a container of the walnuts, which states they’re from California. 

“I do want the fraudulent labelling to stop.”

According to email correspondence between Palmer and the CFIA, both the orange and nut issues have been resolved, but a CFIA inspector had to follow-up at least twice with the Sobeys store to get action. 

Palmer says a lack of enforcement signals to retailers that they can ignore labelling rules with little consequence. 

The CFIA is telling grocers, “‘Don’t worry, just go ahead and do it, and eventually we might say stop,'” he said. 

Loblaw gets warnings for mislabelled veggies

Federal regulations state that food labels and in-store signage must be accurate and not misleading. 

On Tuesday, CFIA spokesperson Patrick Girard told CBC News in an email that the agency issues fines based on a “range of considerations,” including the degree of risk and possible harm and the track record of the offender.

In January, the CFIA handed $10,000 fines to two Toronto-based, Loblaw-owned stores — a Superstore and a Fortinos — for misrepresenting foreign food as Canadian.

In February, the CFIA issued warnings but no fines to two other Loblaw-owned stores, a Dominion in Newfoundland and Labrador and a Superstore in Nova Scotia.

At the Superstore, Mexican bell peppers were promoted with signage that read, “grown in Canada from your farmers.” Green onions grown in California were also promoted as domestic. 

At the Dominion store, President’s Choice cocktail tomatoes from the U.S. were displayed with a maple leaf symbol and a “product of Canada” claim.

WATCH | Some foods might seem Canadian, even if they aren’t:

Loblaw apologizes

Under federal rules, “product of Canada” means the food item is entirely or almost entirely produced within the country.

“It seems like they’re going backwards,” Jackson said of the CFIA’s decision to hand out warnings rather than fines. 

The CFIA said that fines are issued on a case-by-case basis and “can result in different enforcement outcomes” for similar violations.

The agency said fines are just one enforcement tool, along with education and business licence suspensions.

Loblaw said in an email that it’s committed to accurate labelling, but that the task can be challenging when dealing with mass inventory from constantly changing suppliers.

Canada’s largest grocer apologized for the mislabelled food, saying it’s reinforcing store procedures “to help prevent this from happening again.”

What about higher fines?

Shoppers like Palmer are calling for tougher enforcement. However, under the Safe Food for Canadians Act, the maximum penalty the CFIA can issue is $15,000 per violation. 

By contrast, businesses face fines of up to $10 million under Canada’s Competition Act — sometimes more — for a first offence of misleading advertising.

“I would very much appreciate CBC reaching out and publicly asking the Competition Bureau to explain why maple washing is not being investigated and enforced under the Competition Act,” Palmer said.

CBC did just that. Spokesperson Marianne Blondin responded in an email that the bureau “can” become involved in such cases. However, she didn’t directly answer a question about why it doesn’t appear to be involved in current maple-washing cases.

She did, however, note that not all the Competition Bureau’s work is made public.

Blodin encouraged Canadians to file a complaint with the Competition Bureau if they uncover misleading advertising. 

Shoppers can also submit one to the CFIA — if it’s food-related.