Australian PM says he stands by Toronto café owner in Vegemite fight with Canadian regulators

An Ontario café chain fighting Canadian food regulators for permission to keep selling Vegemite now has the backing of the Australian prime minister.

Leighton Walters, an Australian-Canadian dual citizen who owns the Aussie-inspired Found Coffee chain located in Toronto and Guelph, was recently ordered by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) to remove $8,000 of Vegemite from his shelves and products. 

After an inspection of a shipment he’d imported this winter, the CFIA deemed the Vegemite non-compliant with Health Canada regulations. Although it’s a staple in Australian households, the yeasty spread is enriched with Vitamin B, which is only permitted in certain products in Canada.

Walters has stopped selling the product, but is still fighting the decision. After taking his story to the media last week and contacting the Australian Trade and Investment Commission for help, he’s now garnered the support of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

At a news conference in Australia Tuesday, reporters asked Albanese if he had a message for Canada in response to the dispute.

“I stand with the Aussie café owner,” Albanese said. “I love Vegemite. It’s a good thing. I did hear the report on that. It’s rather odd that they’re letting Marmite in, which is rubbish, frankly.”

Marmite, a similar yeasty spread made in the U.K. that’s also enriched with vitamins, was explicitly deemed legal for import by the CFIA in a statement in 2020, after a shipment was mistakenly rejected. 

Albanese didn’t say whether he’d be contacting Canadian officials about the CFIA decision.

Australian owner of Toronto café chain fighting Ottawa to save $8K of Vegemite

The CFIA said in a statement Sunday that Vegemite is not prohibited for sale in Canada, but manufacturers must alter the product to make it compliant with regulations. 

However, the CFIA isn’t aware of any Vegemite product that is produced to be sold in Canada in compliance with Canadian regulations, according to the spokesperson. 

Since all Vegemite products are enriched with vitamins, that would suggest the product should be prohibited for sale in Canada. Despite that, the product is available for purchase on Amazon Canada’s website and at specialty retailers around the country.

A spokesperson for Health Canada said in an email that the addition of vitamins is limited to certain foods “to help ensure that Canadians get sufficient but not excessive amounts of certain nutrients in their diet.”

Walters says he’d been selling jars of Vegemite and offering it on toast and in pastries at his cafés for five years before any issue arose.

Walters told CBC Toronto that CFIA has also ordered him to destroy the Vegemite he removed from his shelves. The agency’s spokesperson denied that in an email Sunday, saying Walters was only ordered to remove the product from his shelves.