Here's how Buy Canadian scanner apps did on identifying food origins
Smartphone apps promising to help shoppers identify Canadian groceries have popped up since the onset of trade tensions with the United States last year. But how do these apps compare?
After reviewing more than a dozen options, The Canadian Press chose three apps to use on a variety of common grocery items.
Here are the results delivered by Buy Beaver, O SCANada and Maple Scan.
Item 1: Pied-Mont Dora strawberry jam
Buy Beaver: The jam jar received a full score of 100 because it is manufactured in Quebec. The app didn't provide information about the parent company or source of 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.
O SCANada: Dora was labelled as "Canadian-owned," as it is a Canadian family-owned food manufacturer headquartered in Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines, Que. It didn't specify the origin of ingredients used to make the jam, which it said was not publicly disclosed.
Maple Scan: Pied-Mont Dora was identified as a Quebec-based company, labelling it as both made and packaged in Canada. It also offers the company's history, highlighting its Canadian roots.
Item 2: Kraft Peanut Butter
Buy Beaver: It scored zero because Kraft Heinz Co. is headquartered in the U.S. The app didn't recognize its Canadian manufacturing location or source of ingredients.
O SCANada: The app said the product is "not Canadian-owned," but correctly identified its manufacturing location in Mont-Royal, Que. Meanwhile, ingredient origins aren't specified. "Origin of peanuts is not publicly disclosed," the scan found.
Maple Scan: The PB was labelled as both made and manufactured in Canada.
READ: Beat tariff hikes: how Canadian c-stores can pivot to local sourcing
Item 3: Redpath Granulated Sugar
Buy Beaver: The sugar scored 70 for being a subsidiary of American Sugar Refining Inc., which it has been since 2007. The app said its manufacturing location is in Canada and that most of its ingredients are Canadian.
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: The app called the product "not Canadian-owned," correctly noting Redpath is a subsidiary of the U.S.-based company. The country of origin for sugar cane was not disclosed. It called the product "not Canadian-owned."
Maple Scan: The sugar was called a product of Canada, made in Canada and packaged domestically. The app said the manufacturer is based in Ontario and identified American Sugar Refining as its parent company.
Item 4: French's tomato ketchup
Buy Beaver: 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). Manufacturing locations were listed as Canada and Baltimore, Md. It said the ingredients were "100 per cent Canadian."
O SCANada: 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.
Maple Scan: 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.
