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A scandal around fake maple syrup in Quebec is growing, as consumers are now finding cans of syrup on store shelves with a sticker concealing the name of the company identified by Radio-Canada’s investigative program Enquête last week as having sold cans of falsified syrup.
The producer in question is Steve Bourdeau. His cans of syrup are generally labelled with his name, or the name of his company, 9227-8712 Québec inc., based in Saint-Chrysostome.
Since Enquête’s story last week, several savvy consumers have contacted Radio-Canada or posted on social media about cans of syrup they’d purchased with a sticker attached that says “le sirop Angela.”
But when they peeled off that label, they found it was covering up the name of Bourdeau’s company.
Cans with the “le sirop Angela” label were found at IGA grocery stores across Quebec. Four IGA stores contacted by Enquête say they are now pulling the product.
It’s not clear when the labels were attached or who put them on, but Bourdeau has been aware of Enquête’s investigation since February.
Lab tests conducted for Enquête by the provincial lab responsible for certifying maple syrup in Quebec found that five cans of Bourdeau’s maple syrup labelled as pure had in fact been cut with 50 per cent cane sugar.
Bourdeau told Enquête he believed the cans containing the fake syrup may have come from one of his suppliers from out of province.
He has not responded to requests to comment on the cans with the “le sirop Angela” labels.
Bourdeau told Enquête his products were sold in major grocery chains including IGA and Metro in Quebec and Farm Boy in Ontario.
Several stores have pulled Bourdeau’s products from shelves since Enquête’s story aired last week and are offering customers refunds.
Minister pledges crackdown
Asked Thursday about Enquête’s initial investigation, Quebec Agriculture Minister Donald Martel said fake maple syrup being sold in Quebec was unacceptable.
“It truly outrages me. Quebec consumers don’t deserve this,” Martel told Radio-Canada.
“Maple products are kind of part of our heritage. Anyone who wants to mess with that, well, I don’t have much respect for them,” he said.
Martel said various investigations were underway.
“We have rules, we make sure that these rules are followed, we do a very rigorous job in this regard. We’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again,” he said.
After Enquête’s report last week, the Quebec Federation of Maple Syrup Producers filed complaints with both the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and Quebec’s Agriculture Ministry.
A consumer is also asking a judge to approve a class-action lawsuit over the fake syrup.
“I think this is awful. This is terrible conduct. It’s worthy of rebuke,” the lawyer behind the class action, Saro Turner, told CBC Thursday.
Turner said he would be seeking compensatory damages for consumers who purchased Bourdeau’s syrup, but also punitive damages to deter others from trying the same thing.
Spread to Ontario
It’s not just Quebec consumers who are affected.
Radio-Canada has received emails from several people in Ontario who purchased Bourdeau’s syrup at Farm Boy grocery stores there.
Vee Ledson, who lives in Toronto, purchased three cans of maple syrup on sale a few weeks ago for around $7 a can.
When she read CBC’s story last week about the bogus syrup, she checked her cans and found they were from Bourdeau’s company.
“It’s not a product that we use a lot in our home, but it is something that’s sort of special to us and we really value the pure maple syrup on our plates as opposed to buying an artificial product,” Ledson told CBC.
In a post on social media, Farm Boy said it was also pulling Bourdeau’s product and asked customers who purchased it to contact them.
