Grocers escaped fines for mislabeling imported food

Twelve grocers were found to have used Canadian branding on imported foods, a practice called "maple washing," but faced no fines. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency confirmed these cases stemmed from consumer complaints and were resolved by the grocers correcting the labeling. Shoppers are concerned this lack of penalty will allow the practice to continue. Federal regulations require accurate country-of-origin labeling, and while the CFIA can issue fines, they chose other actions in these instances.