Smartphone apps promising to help shoppers identify Canadian groceries have popped up since the onset of trade tensions with the United States last year.
asserted
shoppers → promise → States
But how do these apps compare?
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apps → compare → ?
After reviewing more than a dozen options, The Canadian Press chose three apps to use on a variety of common grocery items.
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Press → review → items
Here are the results delivered by Buy Beaver, O SCANada and Maple Scan.
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results → deliver → Beaver
The jam jar received a full score of 100 because it is manufactured in Quebec.
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it → receive → Quebec
The app didn’t provide information about the parent company or source of ingredients.
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app → provide → ingredients
Buy Beaver rates items on a scale of zero to 100, which it says is based on the company’s manufacturing location, ingredient sources and the location of its parent company.
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it → rat → company
Dora was labelled as “Canadian-owned,” as it is a Canadian family-owned food manufacturer headquartered in Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines, Que.
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it → label → Plaines
It didn’t specify the origin of ingredients used to make the jam, which it said was not publicly disclosed.
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it → specify → jam
Pied-Mont Dora was identified as a Quebec-based company, labelling it as both made and packaged in Canada.
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Dora → identify → Canada
It also offers the company’s history, highlighting its Canadian roots.
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It → offer → roots
It scored zero because Kraft Heinz Co. is headquartered in the U.S.
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Co. → score → U.S.
The app didn’t recognize its Canadian manufacturing location or source of ingredients.
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app → recognize → ingredients
The app said the product is “not Canadian-owned,” but correctly identified its manufacturing location in Mont-Royal, Que.
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product → say → Royal
Meanwhile, ingredient origins aren’t specified.
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origins → specify → ?
“Origin of peanuts is not publicly disclosed,” the scan found.
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scan → disclose → peanuts
The PB was labelled as both made and manufactured in Canada.
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PB → label → Canada
The sugar scored 70 for being a subsidiary of American Sugar Refining Inc., which it has been since 2007.
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it → score → 2007
The app said its manufacturing location is in Canada and that most of its ingredients are Canadian.
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most → say → ingredients
Though refined and packaged by Redpath, the majority of sugar cane used in Canadian sugar production is imported in bulk from tropical regions in South and Central America, according to the Canadian Sugar Institute, since Canada’s climate is not suitable for growing sugar cane.
O SCANada:
uncertain
climate → refine → cane
The app called the product “not Canadian-owned,” correctly noting Redpath is a subsidiary of the U.S.-based company.
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Redpath → call → company
The country of origin for sugar cane was not disclosed.
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country → disclose → cane
It called the product “not Canadian-owned.”
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It → call → product
The sugar was called a product of Canada, made in Canada and packaged domestically.
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sugar → call → Canada
The app said the manufacturer is based in Ontario and identified American Sugar Refining as its parent company.
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manufacturer → say → company
The ketchup earned a score of 70 out of 100, with the app identifying the U.S.-based McCormick & Co. as its owner (McCormick Canada brought its French’s ketchup production in-house in 2021).
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Canada → earn → 2021
Manufacturing locations were listed as Canada and Baltimore, Md.
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locations → list → Canada
It said the ingredients were “100 per cent Canadian.”
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ingredients → say → ?
The product was labelled “not Canadian-owned,” but knew that its manufacturing plant is in London, Ont. and made with Canadian tomatoes sourced from Ontario growers.
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plant → label → growers
The app said it is not a product of Canada, but is made in Canada with 100 per cent Canadian tomatoes, and is bottled in Canada.
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it → say → Canada
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 21, 2026.
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report → publish → Press
The Aporia
