That means he makes no money selling juice apples - because it costs him about that much per pound to harvest them.Īnd there is little incentive for Canadian juice-makers to pay local apple farmers higher prices because of the plentiful supply of cheap, foreign concentrate. Schuyler says he is paid about 25 cents a pound for fresh McIntosh apples for eating, for example, compared to just five cents a pound for undercoloured, small, bruised or misshapen fruit that don't meet the standard of perfection for produce aisles. Marketplace host Charlsie Agro and Brett Schuyler test some of the apples grown at Schuyler Farms, which produces 4,500 tonnes of apples each year in a dozen varieties. Like many Canadian apple farmers Schuyler focuses on cultivating large, perfect eating apples which fetch a higher price than juice or "salvage" apples. "For farmers, it's just frustrating that you can't identify what if this juice was made with Canadian apples."įor farmers like him, growing and selling apples for juice is no longer worth the squeeze. While a customer service agent first said she thought the apples used in Allen's juice were "Canadian," a later email from the company indicated that the apple concentrate used "can come from a variety of places, including North America, South America, Asia and Europe." Juice apples not worth the squeezeīut those answers don't sit well with Schuyler. The Quebec-based Lassonde owns and produces about a dozen juice brands throughout North America, including Oasis, Fairlee, Rougemont and Graves - and the iconic Allen's, with that navy blue can sporting shiny McIntosh apples, a maple leaf and the slogan: "A Canadian Favourite For Over 80 Years." ![]() Orange juice: Is 'premium' juice actually more natural?.Once in Canada, the concentrate is mixed with water and reconstituted into a drinkable juice. Last year, nearly 30 million litres of apple juice concentrate alone was imported into Canada from China.Īpple concentrate is produced from apple juice that is boiled down into a thick liquid, packaged in plastic-lined steel drums and transported around the world by tankers. With its massive orchards and cheap labour force, China has become the world's largest producer of apple juice concentrate over the last few decades.Ĭhina is also the number one supplier of apple juice concentrate to Canada, far outpacing other countries, according to Statistics Canada and the World Apple Review. as well as with "some" apples from Canada. The agents we reached told Marketplace that their juices were produced with apple concentrate from China, Poland, Argentina, Chile, New Zealand and the U.S. In an attempt to learn the source of apples for some of the most popular juice brands sold in Canada, Marketplace contacted the customer service departments of five different companies. While apple juice labels aren't legally required to list the country of origin, similar to a number of fruit and vegetable products prepared in Canada, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) does require the labels to include company information. "And you can choose to say it's prepared from imported or domestic ingredients - but you don't necessarily have to spell out where it's from." Apples from around the world "All you need to say is that it's prepared in Canada," he said. ![]()
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