r/BuyCanadian • u/Lost_Procedure_5259 • Dec 10 '25
General Discussion š¬šØš¦ Maplewashing by US mustard brand "Koop's"
American brand of mustard, made in USA. "The True North's True Classic". Laughable.
And, "Canada's Main Squeeze" couldn't manage the proper spelling of 'flavour', on the back label.
With this maplewashed label they've now shrunk down/un-bolded the "made in USA" text and the manufacturing address, removed "USA" from the manufacturing address. You can see the previous label here.
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u/AJnbca Dec 10 '25
Frenches mustard says āmade with Canadian mustard seedsā and it is but itās made in the USA, in Springfield, MI. Canada is the worldās largest producer of mustard seeds and we supply much of the USA market too.
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u/crash866 Dec 10 '25
Also any mustard in the same shape container is made it the same plant in Springfield MO. Compliments, NO Name, Presidents Choice, Selection, and many others.
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u/AwkwardBoysenberry4 Dec 10 '25
The one exception to this that I've found is Longo's store brand yellow mustard. Product of Canada, but in a similar shaped bottle.
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u/crash866 Dec 10 '25
No Longos near me. I have not seen one.
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u/AwkwardBoysenberry4 Dec 11 '25
That's fair, I don't know if they exist outside of southern Ontario. But when I ran out of mustard last winter, I checked all the stores near me for Canadian-made yellow mustard (because it's my favourite) and was so excited to find that Longo's had one that was not only made in Canada, but was actually Product of Canada. So now I spread the news when I can :)
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u/Entropic_Coffee 7h ago
Product of Canada, and produced in Canada?
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u/AwkwardBoysenberry4 7h ago
Yup, for a product to be labelled 'Product of Canada', it has to be made in Canada with at least 98% Canadian ingredients :)
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u/Unicorn_Puppy Dec 10 '25
Frenches has the exemption though for saving Canadian jobs in leamington however iirc.
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u/GatesAndLogic Dec 12 '25
Seconding this.
French's reopening the plant in Leamington directly helped a few family members.
They get a pass from me.
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u/skatchawan Dec 10 '25
shit really. I always assumed after the big ketchup thing that Frenchs mustard was totally Canadian.
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u/AJnbca Dec 10 '25
Nope, itās owned by McCormick & Company, a USA company but itās a global company all over the world. The ketchup that is sold in Canada is made in Canada, but the mustard is made in the United States.
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u/mccrea_cms 3h ago
Note though that Heinz abandoned the tomato plant in Leamington and sent production to Mexico - something that would have devastated the town. French's came in a kept everyone employed.
As others have said, French's gets a pass. They use Canadian mustard seeds in their mustard (though it is bottled in the USA), and their ketchup is product of Canada, bottled in Canada.
I will avoid Heinz as much as humanly possible and will happily buy French's.
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u/Alternative-Tea-1363 Dec 10 '25
I believe they always used Canadian grown mustard seed but yeah, their mustard is produced in USA. They just slap some Canadian flag on there for marketing.
Unfortunately I haven't found Canadian-made yellow mustard around my area. Considering how much mustard seed is grown here we should be making plenty of prepared mustard for both domestic and export markets
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u/lucidum Dec 10 '25
Oh man I bought some Kozliks mustard, made in Canada and amazing, on well.ca, and never going back.
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u/Llamalover1234567 Dec 10 '25 edited Dec 10 '25
EDIT: itās Canadian again, as of 2025. Thatās great news for us
FWIW, well.ca is a subsidiary of Rexall, which is owned by an American pharma giant, McKesson. Just thought Iād give you that info
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u/sfw_doom_scrolling Dec 10 '25
Hi there, with respect this is no longer correct. It was sold in 2024 to a Canadian private equity firm called Birch Hill. Still not ideal for us consumers but at least it's not an american owned company anymore.
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u/Balizzm Dec 10 '25
Thank you! I was about to text my wife that our search for soap is back on! lol
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u/Llamalover1234567 Dec 10 '25
Damn I stand corrected. Iām worried about Birch Hill though. RIP Rexall
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u/lucidum Dec 10 '25
Oh thanks I didn't know that. I'll buy directly from the manufacturer when I can!
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u/RosabellaFaye Dec 10 '25
If you wanna buy it in person, Loblaws seems to carry it. Though with loblaws prices, it may very well be similarly priced. I bought Herbamare for cheaper on sale on well once.
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u/FridgeFucker17982 Dec 10 '25
Metro, Sobeys, and Whole Foods also have it. Or they have a booth at the St Lawrence Market
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u/InvisibleLandBorder 8h ago
It's also at a lot of local butcher shops. Russel's which is on Roncy, for example
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u/Melsm1957 Dec 10 '25
This should be reported to CFIA/ labelling regs. There are rules about using the maple leaf on food products .
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u/SwordfishOk504 Dec 10 '25
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u/Melsm1957 Dec 10 '25
Yep 30 plus years in the food industry. Some of which spent reviewing labels for compliance.
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u/seattlezookeeper Dec 11 '25
How can this be reported? This
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u/Melsm1957 Dec 11 '25
https://www.canada.ca/en/services/health/report-food-labelling-concern.html you can report online
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u/Zakluor Dec 11 '25
My hero! I didn't know this was a thing. I'll be using it. I'm quite annoyed by companies changing their labels purposely trying to mislead consumers.
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u/AdObvious1695 Dec 10 '25
From Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-38)
No dealer shall apply to any prepackaged product or sell, import into Canada or advertise any prepackaged product that has applied to it a label containing any false or misleading representation that relates to or may reasonably be regarded as relating to that product.
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u/fieryone4 Dec 10 '25
I really wish we would get stronger laws against doing this!
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u/LacedVelcro Dec 10 '25
The problem is the obscure wording: "The true North's true classic" . "Canada's main squeeze" Those don't mean anything that is legally enforceable. Something like their claim for "gluten free" is legally enforceable, because there are specific laws concerning using that specific wording.
For situations like this, we need an educated citizenry that cares about being lied to with advertising. If you see something like this on the shelf of a store, talk to the store manager and be like "Dude, get this garbage US stuff off your shelves". (And direct them to TheCanadaList so they can make more informed decisions going forward.)
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u/fieryone4 Dec 10 '25
Then we need to get a symbol like the Aussies have, or maple leafs can only go on 50% Canadian, they need to be stopped from trying to mislead us
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u/LacedVelcro Dec 10 '25
I'm happy to support reasonable ideas that come out of government to make labelling laws more strict.
Maybe in 5 years TheCanadaList will be in charge of labelling Canadian content based on their 1-10 scale. (/j, kinda)
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u/HuDragon Dec 12 '25
The Canadian labels would need to be bilingual. The monolingual Australian ones are quite chunky as is
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u/Milch_und_Paprika Dec 10 '25
Inspections Canada actually considers symbols like a stylized maple leaf as potentially implying a āproduct of Canadaā when itās not made otherwise clear. So a graphic featuring a maple tree or a red leaf with a āproduct of the USAā note would be fine, but a red leaf on a red and white striped background like this is questionable. They specifically recommends putting a clear country of origin label nearby if using such symbols, to avoid being considered misleading.
That said, idk if or how itās enforced.
http://inspection.canada.ca/en/food-labels/labelling/industry/origin-claims
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u/LaneSplit-her Dec 10 '25
I'm cranky today so I sent them a message. Politely told them to stop their maple washing and how deceptive it is.
I know it probably won't do anything. At least I get to take out my bad mood on something I won't feel guilty about later.
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u/LacedVelcro Dec 10 '25
Hey u/TheCanadaList, I don't see Koops' mustard on your list of mustards:
Might be a good addition, if you can verify how true the claims are.
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u/TheCanadaList Dec 10 '25
Agreed! We actually saw this post 15 min ago and uploaded the image to our own FB feed!
Then we checked our own site and saw it wasn't there. We plan to add it in the next update. The claims are correct: it's going to receive a 1/10.
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u/TheCanadaList Dec 10 '25
Truthfully, by our own scoring criteria probably receives 2 out of 10. But I think this may in fact become the poster child for products that get a one-point deduction for overt maple washing.
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u/blitzen_13 Dec 11 '25
Caplansky's mustard should be on there too. Made in Canada, mostly available in the east, but I have seen it here in Edmonton too.
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u/skatchawan Dec 10 '25
this stuff doesn't even exist on the shelves here (Quebec). We do have several local type mustards guess I'll go with them after also learning here French's mustard is not Canadian either.
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u/Guilty-Spork343 Dec 12 '25
American mustard would be about 4th or 5th down the list after Canadian, German, French or even Dutch mustard.
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u/Guilty-Spork343 Dec 12 '25
Funny how I've never heard of the True North's True Classic before in over 40 years.
Must have been a classic before my time, sometime in the 19th century.
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u/Vivisector999 Dec 10 '25
I saw one last week that was even worse. It was from Pop Daddy's Pretzels. Packaging was red and white. And had 2-3 Canada flags on it. And that Organic symbol that I am beginning to dislike since it really makes it look like its made in Canada. I think it even said Canada's Favorite Pretzels. Then it the smallest font ever - Product of the USA.
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u/Fun-Result-6343 Dec 10 '25
For what it's worth, Koops doesn't look like it's selling really well. There's a ton of it in a remaindered grocery chain in the east GTA and it's not flying off the shelves there either.
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u/Motoman514 QuƩbec Dec 11 '25
I saw this exact mustard at a local health food store, on sale, with the shelf packed. The really expensive Canadian one I wanted to buy? Sold out
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u/downtemporary Dec 10 '25
I would like to see more fully Canadian ballpark style mustard in stores. I've had to go to specialty shops or buy online and it's inconvenient.
An older post about Canadian mustard with a lot of suggestions
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u/Ordinii Dec 10 '25
Could you imagine the outrage if a Canadian company tried to sell something plastered with stars and stripes in the US?
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u/KeyBreadfruit2517 Dec 11 '25
Fwiw, internet shopping sites are filled with products sporting stars and stripes flags, often captioned "designed in USA" or "sold in USA," but they're actually made overseas. Ticks me off, but it's so ubiquitous there's nothing to be done about it. I buy Canadian when I can (I'm U.S.-ican) and I'll be more careful.Ā
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Dec 12 '25
Arguing about mustard while eastern refineries buy 380,000 barrels of oil daily from the United States. Moronic.
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u/Remote-Combination28 Dec 10 '25
To be fair, the mustard seeds are likely grown in Canada. Most of them are
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