The Canadian market is flooded by imported Hungarian duck-meat

HVG.hu reports, based on a CBC.ca article, that the Canadian market is full of duck products imported from Hungary which are repackaged and relabeled, and then being sold as products “made in Canada”, deceiving Canadian consumers.

According to CBC News, there has been a major increase in the demand for duck-meat in the country, which resulted in duck producers aiming to boost their production. Even though, it is more expensive than chicken, duck is more often being chosen “as an alternative to beef, which has experienced steep price increases”, as noted by CBC.

Producers, therefore, aim to expand their supplies and offer more kinds of duck products. One of the processor companies, Brome Lake Ducks also aims “to expand its export business, which took a 35 per cent hit in 2004…”, whereas the largest duck processor company of Canada, the King Cole Ducks would also increase its exports to Mexico to get a foothold on the market as Brome Lake became a serious competition.

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However, the situation of the Canadian duck processors is not that easy: they do not only have to compete with each other but also with the “[f]lood of cheaper import… especially from Hungary that has flooded the Canadian market over the last two years”. Debbi Conzelmann, CEO for King Cole suspects, based on the increase of the imports, that Hungarians will “probably take over a third of the country’s production this year…”

Moreover, consumers are constantly being misled, as Hungarian products are being repackaged and relabeled as if they were actually made in Canada, whereas they were, in fact, exported to the North-American country from Europe. Ken Falk, president of Fraser Valley Specialty Poultry, claimed that these imported products are “one of the biggest threats facing Canada’s duck sector”, and complained about the government’s non-interference.

Copy editor: bm

Source: hvg.hu, cbc.ca