{"id":623016,"date":"2026-04-23T09:56:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T09:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/623016\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T09:56:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T09:56:12","slug":"quebec-producer-who-sold-fake-maple-syrup-isnt-stopping-federation-alleges-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/623016\/","title":{"rendered":"Quebec producer who sold fake maple syrup isn\u2019t stopping, federation alleges"},"content":{"rendered":"

Quebec\u2019s maple syrup producers’ federation is alleging in court documents that Steve Bourdeau, the producer linked to the recent fake maple syrup scandal<\/a>, may be trying to resell bogus syrup that\u2019s been returned to him by grocery stores.<\/p>\n

The Quebec Federation of Maple Syrup Producers, known by its French acronym PPAQ, has filed a formal request with Quebec\u2019s food marketing regulator, the R\u00e9gie des march\u00e9s agricoles et alimentaires du Qu\u00e9bec, to launch a full investigation into Bourdeau\u2019s business, shut down his operations, and seize all his syrup.<\/p>\n

Radio-Canada\u2019s Enqu\u00eate program first broke the story on April 2 that five cans of Bourdeau\u2019s syrup for sale on grocery store shelves in Quebec and Ontario were tested and found to have been cut with more than 50 per cent cane sugar, despite being labelled “pure maple syrup.”<\/p>\n

Most grocery stores have since pulled<\/a> Bourdeau\u2019s products from shelves and offered refunds.<\/p>\n

In documents filed with the regulator, the PPAQ says two of its inspectors visited Bourdeau\u2019s sugar bush on April 16.<\/p>\n

The PPAQ says inspectors found pallets of cans of syrup that had been returned to Bourdeau from suppliers, and that members of Bourdeau\u2019s staff were transferring the syrup from the cans into large containers.<\/p>\n

The inspectors asked Bourdeau what he intended to do with the syrup.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ll find a way to get rid of it,\u201d Bourdeau is quoted as answering, according to the court documents.<\/p>\n

The PPAQ says Bourdeau\u2019s intentions are clear.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt therefore appears that the respondents (Bourdeau and his company) are still active, and that they still intend to sell adulterated maple products, despite the media attention given to their activities and to the detriment of the interests and reputation of all maple producers in Quebec,\u201d the federation said in the court filing.<\/p>\n

Federation asks to seize syrup, collect fines<\/p>\n

In its legal filing, the PPAQ calls Bourdeau a “notorious and repeat offender.”<\/p>\n

\u201cIn recent years, the respondents have been subject to numerous audits, requests for investigations and transactions in which they have admitted contraventions of the regulations applicable to the maple sector,\u201d the PPAQ said.<\/p>\n

The federation said immediately after Enqu\u00eate\u2019s initial report was broadcast, it contacted Bourdeau requesting information and documentation about his sales and business practices, and that he never responded.<\/p>\n

The federation is asking the province’s food marketing regulator for permission to seize all of Bourdeau\u2019s syrup, to order him to stop producing and marketing syrup, and to collect from him a total of $190,000 in fines and unpaid contributions.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also asking for a full investigation into Bordeau\u2019s operations for the last three years, in which the regulator could compel Bourdeau to provide required documents and to answer any questions.<\/p>\n

Bourdeau hasn\u2019t responded yet to the allegations contained in the court documents.<\/p>\n

When responding to Enqu\u00eate\u2019s initial report on the fake syrup, Bourdeau suggested it might have come from one of his suppliers from out of province.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Quebec\u2019s maple syrup producers’ federation is alleging in court documents that Steve Bourdeau, the producer linked to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":623017,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[45,49,48,2076,76060,233657,906],"class_list":{"0":"post-623016","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-court-documents","12":"tag-maple-syrup","13":"tag-ppaq","14":"tag-quebec"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=623016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623016\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/623017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=623016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=623016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=623016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}