# Politics and News > World Affairs >  Canada's Food Laws Ban the Best Burgers

## HawkTheSlayer

*Canada's Food Laws Ban the Best Burgers*

*America's neighbor to the north also has a host of dumb regulations.*

Baylen Linnekin | December 30, 2017




Renamarie / Dreamstime.comMy girlfriend and I spent the Christmas holiday in Vancouver, Canada this year.

While there, we visited a bunch of nice sites, saw a good band, and ate some great food. On our last day in the city—Tuesday, which was also Boxing Day—we ate at Joe Forte's, an airy steakhouse just off the city's main tourist avenue, Robson Street.

I was craving a hamburger and figured Forte's, which bills itself as a chophouse, was the place to go. My girlfriend ordered a steak sandwich, cooked medium. I ordered the burger, cooked medium.


My burger was great in every single way possible except for the fact it wasn't cooked the way I'd requested. And that wasn't because the restaurant erred. Instead—as I was warned after ordering my burger medium—it's due to an awful Canadian law that says all restaurant hamburgers must be cooked until no longer pink. Even my response when our great server asked if we had any food allergies—"Overcooked burgers," I replied—got me no closer to a burger cooked my way.

I have no doubt this regulation probably prevents some handful of harmful or even fatal cases of foodborne illness, which can occur if pathogens that may appear in ground beef are not killed off by cooking the beef to an internal temperature of at least 160F. But as a regulation, it's as arbitrary a decision as banning raw animal products such as oysters and sushi, raw produce such as sprouts and melons, and countless other foods that are definitely legal in Canada. In other words, the medium-hamburger ban is both dumb and wrong.

With respect to its burgers, then, Canada is very different than the United States, where diners ordering a medium burger might notice a menu warning cautioning against eating some raw or lightly cooked foods. But if one looks past the specifics of that law, they'll notice Canada, just like the United States, has lots of terrible food laws, along with its share of food controversies.

For example, I wrote last December about an awful proposal by lawmakers in Montreal to ban new restaurants, in a bid to protect existing ones. And in 2011 I blogged about a Canadian Wheat Board monopoly in Western Canada. When—in the course of writing my recent book, _Biting the Hands that Feed Us: How Fewer, Smarter Laws Would Make Our Food System More Sustainable_—I was looking for a foreign analog to an awful USDA enforcement action that forced an exceptional American sausage producer out of business, I found I needed look no further than Canada.

Those are just a few of Canada's dumb food laws.

I also learned this week about one of its stranger ongoing food controversies, which Canada's _Globe and Mail_ reports was just settled after a decades-long fight. The battle concerns Prosciutto di Parma, the tasty cured Italian meat, and use of the word "Parma" to describe the food in Canada. The Italian term "di Parma" literally translates as "from Parma." When used in conjunction with prosciutto, it refers to prosciutto that's both from Parma _and_ that meets the EU definition of "Prosciutto di Parma," a specifically defined term that's known as a protected designation of origin.

The truly mind-numbing 83-page EU protected designation of origin rules for what is and isn't "Prosciutto di Parma," adopted in 1992, include the most tedious minutiae about pig breeds, feeding, slaughter, geographic boundaries, altitude, and the like. They also include nausea-inducing language like this: "The envisaged quantitative programming of protected production has to be integrated in a synergetic way with the qualitative classification requirements already introduced by the protection rules (qualitative analytical parameters that uniquely characterize Parma Ham and the production requirements in pig breeding)."

Despite these fastidious and obnoxious EU rules, it turns out it's been illegal for Italian producers of Prosciutto di Parma to refer to their product as "Prosciutto di Parma" in Canada. That's because Canada's Maple Leaf Foods trademarked the term "Parma" in Canada in 1994. The company sells a "Parma" product there, too. This—along with a Canadian court siding with Maple Leaf five years ago in a challenge by Italian producers—has meant Prosciutto di Parma, introduced to Canada in 1995, has been labeled in Canada not as "Prosciutto di Parma" but as "The Original Prosciutto."
It's also meant, as _The Globe and Mail_ report notes, that "Prosciutto di Parma" has been a "name recognized around the world.... except in Canada."

It took a recent trade agreement between Canada and Europe to scrap what was effectively a "Prosciutto di Parma" ban. The fair compromise, reached after a 20-year battle, says both Canadian and Italian producers may use the term "Parma."

"Now, thanks to this agreement, we will be able to legitimately use our Prosciutto di Parma designation as well as our famous, brand-identifying Parma Crown," says Stefano Fanti, who leads Italy's Prosciutto di Parma association.

That's a win for Italian producers and Canadian consumers alike. But Canada—like the U.S.—still has a long way to go before its food laws truly embrace consumers the way its food already does. Until then, I'll stick with American hamburgers.


Photo Credit: Renamarie | Dreamstime.com

Baylen Linnekin is a food lawyer, scholar, and adjunct law professor. He's the author of Biting the Hands that Feed Us: How Fewer, Smarter Laws Would Make Our Food System More Sustainable (Island Press 2016). Linnekin serves on the board of directors of the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund.

Canadas Food Laws Ban the Best Burgers - Reason.com

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FirstGenCanadian (01-04-2018),Madison (01-04-2018),Rutabaga (01-04-2018)

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## ruthless terrier

holy shite .. until no longer pink ?? they aren't worth eating after that  :Dontknow:

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## HawkTheSlayer

".....But as a regulation, it's as arbitrary a decision as banning raw animal products such as oysters and sushi, raw produce such as sprouts and melons, and countless other foods that are definitely legal in Canada. In other words, the medium-hamburger ban is both dumb and wrong."

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## Fly Paper

A steak has bacteria on it's outside which are killed when fried, grilled etc..

When you mince the meat, the bacteria is then throughout the meat, inside the burger and should really be cooked through. 

The names of food is ridiculous because you can buy a Cornish Pasty in Cormwall. They're not allowed to be called Cornish Pastys anywhere else, n the UK. So they're labelled up under some other description, you go in and ask for a Cornish Pasty and they just give you the equivalent. It's all irrelevant.

The problem is, the law puts the onus on the producer/supplier, not the customer despite how you ask for it to be cooked. They have to supply per the law. Any come back is on their shoulders.

There are thousands of stupid laws.

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## Madison

Red meat got bute and bacteria's in it anyway I don't eat red meat....lol

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## Conservative Libertarian

While I prefer to have no pink in my burger or steak, I ensure so by ordering it that way. If they don't comply I either don't tip or don't pay. My digestive system dictates this. However, I don't support a law to make them cook the meat that way. Customer's choice.

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## 2cent

I did not just say that.

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## HawkTheSlayer

> I did not just say that.


 :Thinking: 
Is it because of my coon burger recipe?  :Dontknow:

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## HawkTheSlayer

> I did not just say that.


Too late. I caught it. Edit is your friend.  :Thumbsup20:

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## HawkTheSlayer

> I did not just say that.


Yes you did.  :Smiley ROFLMAO:

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## 2cent

> Is it because of my coon burger recipe?


Not a'toll.  Surely, I misspoke.  Please forgive my faux pas.

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Conservative Libertarian (01-08-2018)

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## patrickt

> Red meat got bute and bacteria's in it anyway I don't eat red meat....lol


Good. That leaves more for me and my dog.

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## patrickt

> While I prefer to have no pink in my burger or steak, I ensure so by ordering it that way. If they don't comply I either don't tip or don't pay. My digestive system dictates this. However, I don't support a law to make them cook the meat that way. Customer's choice.


I don't neglect to tip because the cook, kitchen staff, or management has erred. The waiters don't run the place.

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Conservative Libertarian (01-08-2018)

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## JustPassinThru

I loved Canada.

Loved.  Past tense.

Because I've seen that nation "transformed" over thirty years of my watching it, over forty years of unimpeded liberalism.

Now it's no longer warnings on cigarette packs.  It's no longer JUST government healthcare.  It's no longer JUST crippling taxation.

They're in your dinner plate.

I'll never be back.  That is just too...much.  Liberals destroy industry; and all that's left, frequently, is tourism.  Now they're destroying THAT.

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## FirstGenCanadian

Again, as I have pointed out on many occasions in this board. 
Universal health care is the infringement of people's rights, because of retarded people.  

Canadians, are incapable of critical thinking.  The government has to apply common sense via law.  Otherwise they are merely lemmings.

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## JustPassinThru

> Again, as I have pointed out on many occasions in this board. 
> Universal health care is the infringement of people's rights, because of retarded people.  
> 
> Canadians, are incapable of critical thinking.  The government has to apply common sense via law.  Otherwise they are merely lemmings.


Canadians are the same people we are.

Just that they've been subject to Leftist propaganda so much longer.  AND that they do not have a government responsive to their demands and desires - it does what it wants, and the hell with the subject-peons.

The Loonie, the coin, is instructive.  The Canadian government and the American, brought out dollar coins at the same time.  Americans refused to use them.  Canadians tried to, also.

The American government reversed its decision.  But Canadians...WILL use that loonie!  So named, not only for the bird on it, but for the looney idea of the coin.  Of course, we didn't know then, that, once Reagan had controlled inflation, the Left's aim was to CRANK IT BACK UP.  So now even a dollar coin is a waste - we need $10 coins, and $5 coins.

But...yeah.  The difference between Canadians and Americans is the Constitution - and how it had (past tense) kept government in check and the People its master.

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FirstGenCanadian (01-08-2018)

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## 2cent

Just more proof that, when the government controls the health industry, they'll control everything (they deem) connected to people's health.  Whether it is, or not.  

Also, if they see the food market fluctuating in way that doesn't serve their purposes best, they'll pay "scientists" for the "proof" they'll need to see that it does.  

I like my meat medium rare, tyvm.  Burn it, and I'll leave it sitting there on the plate.

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## Conservative Libertarian

> I don't neglect to tip because the cook, kitchen staff, or management has erred. The waiters don't run the place.


I take that into consideration. I have tipped the waitress while refusing to pay for a botched meal.

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## Sled Dog

> holy shite .. until no longer pink ?? they aren't worth eating after that


It's Canada.

They're making  up for the hockey puck shortage.

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## Sled Dog

> A steak has bacteria on it's outside which are killed when fried, grilled etc..
> 
> When you mince the meat, the bacteria is then throughout the meat, inside the burger and should really be cooked through. 
> 
> The names of food is ridiculous because you can buy a Cornish Pasty in Cormwall. They're not allowed to be called Cornish Pastys anywhere else, n the UK. So they're labelled up under some other description, you go in and ask for a Cornish Pasty and they just give you the equivalent. It's all irrelevant.
> 
> The problem is, the law puts the onus on the producer/supplier, not the customer despite how you ask for it to be cooked. They have to supply per the law. Any come back is on their shoulders.
> 
> There are thousands of stupid laws.



Their body, their choice.

Oh.

Wait.

Canada has socialist "medicine".

So it's the government's body and thus the government's choice.

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## Sled Dog

> Again, as I have pointed out on many occasions in this board. 
> Universal health care is the infringement of people's rights, because of retarded people.  
> 
> Canadians, are incapable of critical thinking.  The government has to apply common sense via law.  Otherwise they are merely lemmings.


And who says the government has any sense, common or other?

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FirstGenCanadian (01-12-2018)

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