Dive Brief:

• Canadian officials have charged Mucci Farms and its two senior executives with fraud in connection with country-of-origin-labeling laws (COOL).
• The Canadian Food Inspection Agency alleges the Ontario greenhouse labeled and sold $1 million worth of tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers shipped from Mexico as Canadian-grown. 
• Retailers Costco, Sobey's, and Loblaw and their customers were victims of the scam, according to investigators.

Dive Insight:

In Canada, as in the U.S., there's a presumption of innocence under the law. But even if that was not true, there's just not enough information at this time to know if Mucci and its executives did what they are accused of doing.

While we wait for the courts to rule, there are two things worth noting about this case.

First, Mucci is not a small-time player. The company operates some 400 acres of greenhouses. Fraud by a produce company of that size would not be unheard of, but it's not common either.

Second, this particular case involves only produce and only Canadian companies. But it comes just as U.S. courts have ruled that the USDA does,  in fact, have the legal power to expand COOL laws to meat and poultry.