CBC.ca - Marketplace - Product of Canada, eh?

CBC.ca - Marketplace - Product of Canada, eh?: "Under current law, only a limited amount of fluid milk and cream can be imported tariff-free into Canada. 'Modified milk ingredients' are a different story. That name can mean just about any product that was initally part of milk, especially including the following:

skim milk powder
milk protein concentrates
milk protein isolates
casein
caseinates
whey protein concentrates

It's possible to make products such as cheese and ice cream using only modified milk ingredients and no fluid milk or cream at all.

Here are some quick cheese facts:

The substitution of milk protein concentrate for milk is most common in lower quality, less expensive products such as generic cheddar and mozzarella
Essentially all the milk protein concentrate used in Canada is imported. New Zealand is the major source; it also comes from Europe and U.S.
Because of price controls on Canadian dairy products, imported milk protein concentrate costs much less than than comparable Canadian product does.
There is currently no way for consumers to know how much fluid (and therefore Canadian) milk is in Canadian cheese
A 2007 proposed amendment to the Food and Drug Regulations supported by dairy farmers would limit the amounts of milk products other than milk, partly skimmed milk, skim milk or cream that can be used in cheesemaking. The proposed legislation would require 70% of Mozzarella, 100% of Cheddar, 95% of Fine Cheeses and 83% of commercial cheese to be made from fluid milk, which cannot be imported tariff-free."