When is a bison not a buffalo? When it’s labelled as a water buffalo..And apparently the problem is so common it has bipartisan support from a pair of US senators who want to stop bison meat from being mislabelled on supermarket shelves..Colorado senators John Hoeven, a Republican, and Michael Bennet, a Democrat, have introduced bipartisan legislation — dubbed appropriately enough, the ’Truth in Buffalo Labelling Act’ — to give the US Food and Drug Administration the authority to make sure products made with water buffalo aren’t labelled as 'buffalo' on food packages..The legislation is being cosponsored by a half dozen other senators among both parties from Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Kansas..The bison market in Canada and the US amounts to about 350,000 head and is worth about US$350 million a year. Bison meat goes for almost three times a comparable cut of beef..Prior to 1900 less than 1,000 remained in North America. About 70,000 animals are slaughtered a year compared to 125,000 beef cattle per day..“Accurate labeling of bison products is not only good for consumers, but good for producers as well, and this legislation promotes transparency by ensuring products are properly labeled,” said Hoeven..“Colorado’s bison producers work hard to grow their markets and deliver high-quality meat. Misleading labeling undermines their efforts and deceives consumers,” added Bennet..Apparently it’s a more common problem than many would believe, on both sides of the border and covering a wide range of food products from olive oil, to milk and seafood — which is a major Canadian export, amounting to more than $2 billion to the US alone..In 2021, industry trade group, Oceana Canada, found 46% of seafood samples subjected to DNA treating turned out to be mislabelled. In response the federal government committed to introduce a boat-to table traceability program but thus far has yet to implement one..According to the Canada Food Inspection Agency, types of food fraud include 'substitution' — pollock for cod for instance — 'adulterating' — diluting maple syrup with sugar — 'mislabelling' or making false or misleading claims that a product is organic when it isn’t..Some notable cases include Spanish olive oil found to contain paint thinner, or Chinese pet food adulterated with melamine to give it a higher protein content..In 2013 furniture retailer IKEA was forced to recall its famous meatballs in 13 countries including Canada after they contained horse meat..It's hard to know exactly how much food fraud there is in Canada. Globally, all forms of food fraud are estimated to cost the global food industry between $10 and $15 billion per year, affecting about 10% of all commercially sold food products, CFIA said on its website..In 2023 it began testing meat, presumably including bison..In March, the CFIA seized more than 100,000 kilos of misrepresented foods. The most commonly affected products are: olive oil; honey; dry spices; fish; fruit juices; and organic products.
