Canadian produce representatives recently met with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to voice concerns and emphasize industry initiatives.
The Canadian Produce Marketing Association, represented by Colin Chapdelaine, CPMA chair and president of berry operations at Star Produce, says it spoke on behalf of the industry during Trudeau's food affordability roundtable at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit, held last week in San Francisco. Along with other food industry leaders, including Canadian representation by Oppy Chief Marketing Officer and Senior Vice President of Categories James Milne, the roundtable provided an opportunity for CPMA to highlight the Canadian fresh produce industry’s efforts to keep healthy food affordable and available for Canadians all year-round, according to a news release.
In addition to innovation and food affordability, industry representatives outlined concerns with the Canadian government's proposed regulations which could adversely impact food affordability and availability. These include the ban on fresh produce PLU stickers and the application of highly restrictive and market-disrupting fresh produce packaging targets within the proposed Pollution Prevention Plan Notice for Primary Food Packaging, the release said.
The CPMA says that complements its ongoing advocacy with parliamentarians, the offices of the prime minister, minister of environment and climate change, minister of agriculture and agri-food, minister of innovation, science and economic development, and all levels of public service since the announcement of regulations and policy related to fresh fruit and vegetable packaging.
The industry highlighted a need for the government to recognize and support its ongoing efforts and significant investments to address environmental concerns with produce packaging, including light-weighting, innovative packaging elimination, converting to fully recyclable packaging, increasing recycled content and adopting compostable solutions, according to the release.
“Our industry stakeholders from across the global fresh produce supply chain are ready to work with government officials to help them understand the industry’s efforts to provide Canadians with affordable fresh produce, support industry efforts to develop and adopt sustainable packaging technologies, and fight the rising costs of food,” Chapdelaine said in the release.
“Canadians are concerned about growing food prices,” CPMA President Ron Lemaire said in the release. “The Canadian fresh produce industry is aggressively working to make sure healthy food remains affordable and available in all regions of the country — from major urban centers to remote and rural communities.
“Since 2019, our efforts have included improving global produce supply chains, adopting more sustainable forms of packaging, and collaborating with policymakers and regulators to ensure we move forward in a systems approach that aligns programs and regulations to support a sustainable food system in Canada,” Lemaire added.
Given the Federal Court of Canada's Nov. 16 decision declaring the cabinet order enabling the ban of single-use plastics "unreasonable and unconstitutional," Canada's fresh produce industry is calling on the government to take a non-regulatory approach and work hand in hand with the industry to leverage its existing sustainable packaging efforts and help support a global approach to accelerate the development of the portfolio of sustainable packaging solutions and technologies, according to the release.