LAULAU

Canada is a major producer, exporter and importer of an immense variety of agricultural and food products ranging from processed foods with global value chains to local, farm-based value chains.  In this section, we share 3 of our research insights and assess to what extent our recipe can be made from Canadian agricultural and food products.  

The brand of salmon we used is known as Ocean Jewel Salmon, not produced in Canada, but internationally. Ocean Jewel Salmon works with a company known as Export Packers who farm their fish in Mexico, the Caribbean and South America. Export Packer products are manufactured in Brampton Ontario, Canada. In this value chain, Ocean Jewel is the wholesale company who sells their salmon to retailers such as Wal-Mart.  

Maple leaf pork was our only ingredient whose value chain is entirely in Canada. Maple Leaf uses sow, nursery and finishing barns to farm their pork. Maple leaf owns two primary processing facilities: in Brandon, Manitoba and Lethbridge, Alberta. The finished products are distributed to customers and international markets. Products are sold in the vast majority of grocery stores across Canada, and are also a major supplier to restaurants and foodservice companies nationwide.  

This recipe called for ti and luau leaves; however, these leaves are not available for purchase in Guelph. Therefore, we used spinach as a substitute in our recipe (Fresh Express Spinach). To summarize its value chain, organic farmers in California, Arizona, Florida and Mexico produce Fresh Express Spinach. Processing plants wash, rinse and dry the spinach and refrigerated transportation delivers the spinach to retailers internationally. 

In summary, 1 of the 4 ingredients we needed is produced in Canada, while the other 1 can be purchased without much difficulty. 2 of the ingredients were not available, and required us to make substitutions.