Radio-Canada’s Enquête program has uncovered a major Quebec maple syrup producer selling fake maple syrup in cans on store shelves.
The investigation began by chance, when a Radio-Canada journalist noticed maple syrup he purchased at a grocery store had a strange taste, and he wondered why it tasted off.
Enquête traced the can, which was labelled “pure maple syrup,” to a producer based in Saint-Chrysostome in the Montérégie region southwest of Montreal, Steve Bourdeau.
Bourdeau’s cans of syrup are identified by his numbered company 9227-8712 Québec inc. or under the name “Érablière Steve Bourdeau.”
Enquête purchased five cans of Bourdeau’s syrup at random from different stores and from different batches and took them to the provincial laboratory responsible for testing and assuring quality control for maple syrup in Quebec, le centre ACER, for analysis.
The results were unequivocal.
All five cans, each labelled “pure maple syrup,” contained at least 50 per cent cane sugar.
“This is the first time I’ve seen falsification of this kind. You can see that it’s outright cane sugar that’s been added to the cans,” Luc Lagacé, microbiologist and director of research at ACER, told Enquête.
“This is not an accident. It’s deliberate.”
Enquête had two people pose as buyers for a grocery store to reach out to Bourdeau.
They taped telephone conversations with him and later met with him at his farm, capturing footage on a hidden camera.
Bourdeau told the Enquête team his syrup is sold in hundreds of grocery stores across Quebec, including big chains such as IGA and Metro.
He said in footage captured by the hidden camera that it was illegal to cut maple syrup labelled as pure with other sugars and that he didn’t do that.
But he talked about about his ability to undercut his competitors.
“I’m the best when it comes to prices. The others can’t even come close.”
Bourdeau told the undercover Enquête team he was selling cans of maple syrup to grocery stores for less than $5 a can, alluding to some unspecified illegal practices.
“There’s a lot of jealousy going on. Because I have the market. And it’s not entirely legal. And I got away with it anyway.”
Enquête confronted Bourdeau later with the results of its investigation.
He refused to do an on-camera interview, but had several phone conversations with Enquête and ultimately sent an email responding to some questions.
Bourdeau at first said the test results showing his syrup cut with cane sugar were “impossible,” but then suggested the blame may lie with some of his suppliers in other provinces.
Bourdeau earlier told the undercover Enquête team that, in addition to making his own syrup, he purchased most of his syrup in bulk from suppliers in New Brunswick and Ontario, and then canned it himself.
Isabelle Lapointe, head of the Quebec Federation of Maple Syrup Producers, known by its French acronym PPAQ, told Enquête there’s nothing illegal about that.
“A producer can have a business relationship with another producer in Ontario. We have no control over that,” Lapointe said.
“The producer still has the responsibility to ensure that he meets the standards that are applicable in Quebec.”
Bourdeau also admitted to Enquête in a phone conversation after he was confronted with the test results that he sometimes purchased syrup from Ontario and sold it in cans labelling it as “product of Quebec,” which is illegal.
Quebec is the world’s largest maple syrup producer, and most of the syrup produced here is subject to rigorous controls.
ACER has a mandate to ensure quality control for syrup produced and sold in bulk in Quebec.
Geneviève Clermont, head of ACER’s inspection division, says 90 per cent of syrup from Quebec sold in bulk is tested.
“Since we’ve existed, we’ve never found any falsified syrup.”
But ACER doesn’t inspect syrup in cans that are sold directly by producers to grocery stores, which is how Bourdeau sells his syrup.
“Our mandate is to analyze large containers,” Clermont said.
“We don’t classify maple syrup from a producer who sells directly to a supermarket.”
Lagacé said such syrup can be subject to random spot checks, but not systematically tested like syrup in bulk.
Maple syrup produced in bulk in other provinces does not undergo the same systematic rigorous testing as syrup in Quebec.
“We are very proud of this in Quebec. The producers are very proud of this. And consumers in Quebec — they can tell the difference,” Lagacé said.
He said if people have doubts about maple syrup labelled as pure and from Quebec, they can complain to the provincial Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPAQ) or to the producers federation.
In a final communication with Enquête in an email, Bourdeau said he fully complies with all applicable laws and regulations.
He said he was launching his own investigation to try to determine the source of his falsified syrup and planning on implementing his own inspection system.
But Bourdeau said he had no plans to try to recover or buy back falsified syrup he sold to grocery stores that might still be on store shelves.
“It’s going to be pretty much gone. In two or three weeks, there won’t be much left. We won’t be able to do much with it.”
