{"id":875917,"date":"2026-08-29T14:54:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-29T14:54:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/875917\/"},"modified":"2026-08-29T14:54:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-29T14:54:12","slug":"american-beef-labelled-as-canadian-beef-at-costco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/875917\/","title":{"rendered":"American beef labelled as Canadian beef at Costco"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>While much of the beef purchased in Canada is Canadian, you will also find of cuts on store shelves from the U.S., Australia and Mexico. Pat Foran reports. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Randy Thompson of Gravenhurst, Ont., stopped at a Costco in Orillia this week to pick up some Canadian beef.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cI purchased the beef short ribs, which is one of our favourites. On the front of the label it says, \u2018Kirkland brand cut triple AAA Canada beef,\u2019\u201d said Thompson.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/APFTQJHLM5GELKCR5ODVOB642Q.jpg\"  width=\"800\" height=\"1065\"\/>Costco beef This Costco beef short rib has the label &#8220;Canadian Beef.&#8221; (Supplied) <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">However, when he got home, he noticed another label on the back of the package that said something different.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cIt says \u2018Cut from USDA Choice beef\u2019 and \u2018Product of USA, processed in Canada,\u2019 which is completely different,\u201d said Thompson.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/MJ5WGMJFBRAOTDJWPU5ULL43CI.jpg\"  width=\"800\" height=\"1065\"\/>Costco beef This Costco beef short rib has the label &#8220;Product of USA, processed in Canada.&#8221; (Supplied) <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">He then returned to Costco to try and get answers but didn\u2019t get an explanation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cI was a bit miffed. It was either mislabelled or, at the very least, it\u2019s confusing,\u201d said Thompson.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/XMRUIIM6HJG7DPXPCZGXM3FSUU.jpg\"  width=\"800\" height=\"450\"\/>Ontario man says beef he bought at Costco was labelled in a confusing manner Randy Thompson of Gravenhurst, Ont., says the label on the front of a package of beef short ribs he purchased at a Costco in Orillia shows \u2018Kirkland brand cut triple AAA Canada beef,\u2019 but on the back, it says \u2018Cut from USDA Choice beef\u2019 and \u2018Product of USA.&#8217; <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) told CTV News that it cannot comment on the specific situation, but \u201call information on food labels and advertisements, regardless of whether it is mandatory or voluntary, must be accurate, truthful, and not misleading.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The CFIA said it wants Canadians to report products that they think are labelled in a misleading manner through its <a href=\"https:\/\/inspection.canada.ca\/en\/food-safety-consumers\/where-report-complaint\/report-food-related-concern\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/inspection.canada.ca\/en\/food-safety-consumers\/where-report-complaint\/report-food-related-concern\">food complaint or concern web page.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cCanadians can learn more about how to identify Canadian food with our quick reference guide about the different words or symbols they may find while grocery shopping\u2014some mean the food has Canadian content, while others mean it meets a Canadian standard for quality or organic content,\u201d the CFIA said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cFor example, claims such as \u201cCanadian Beef\u201d tell you about the origin of the product. Whereas food grades such as \u201cCANADA AAA\u201d on beef establish product quality requirements (for example, maturity, colour, and marbling).\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">CTV News reached out to Costco and did not get a response. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">However, when we went to a Scarbrough Costco location, we found the same beef short rib product for sale, and it appeared to be labelled correctly.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">CTV News found beef short ribs that had the Canadian beef sticker on the front, and it was indeed from Canada.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PF4FELXFOVDWZJUQFOADHGWWPI.jpg\"  width=\"800\" height=\"450\"\/>CTV News found beef short ribs that had the Canadian beef sticker on the front, and it was indeed from Canada. CTV News found beef short ribs that had the Canadian beef sticker on the front, and it was indeed from Canada. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">We also found short ribs that did not have the Canadian beef sticker, and they were a product of the USA.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">But it could be confusing for consumers as both packages are being sold side by side.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">With Thompson\u2019s purchase, it may have been a case of an accidental labelling error where staff mistakenly put the Canadian sticker on an American product.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Sylvain Charlebois, professor and food researcher with Dalhousie University, said, \u201cThere is clearly an effort to showcase Canadian products, including at the meat counter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Charlebois said at a time of trade tensions consumers want it to be clear exactly where their groceries come from.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cI do think at some point we have to think differently about how we label products,\u201d said Charlebois.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">As for Thompson, he said whether it was a mistake or not, he plans to continue to watch labels closely so he can buy Canadian.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019ve got to stand up for ourselves and our country and stick together,\u201d said Thompson. <\/p>\n<p>Related Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While much of the beef purchased in Canada is Canadian, you will also find of cuts on store&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":875918,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[712,45,49,48],"class_list":["post-875917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-apple-news","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875917","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=875917"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875917\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/875918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=875917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=875917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=875917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}