Emily Scott grew up drinking ginger beer in the Caribbean, so when her son brought some Canada Dry Ginger Ale over, she thought she'd give it a go.

But after the first sip, she noticed the crisp, intense flavour she was expecting was missing. 

A closer look at the product's ingredient list revealed something else was missing too: "Sure enough, there was no ginger mentioned at all," Scott said.

She was shocked, given that the can can is clearly labelled that its ingredients are "made from real ginger." 

"I thought, 'Well, here's another example of false or misleading information on packages,'" said Scott.

But if she were sipping a Canada Dry in the U.S., she might have been less surprised. The American version of the same can paints a much clearer picture of what is — and isn't — inside.

Where's the ginger in ginger ale?

In the United States, the claim that Canada Dry Ginger Ale is  "made from real ginger" was removed following a class-action settlement in 2019. 

Despite similar litigation in Canada, the claim was not removed from Canadian cans as it was not part of a settlement. 

Take a closer look at the can and you'll spot another difference: the ingredient list. The U.S. list is explicitly clear: the ginger ale contains "less than two per cent" ginger extract. However, the list for the Canadian cans only refers to "natural flavour" and does not quantify how much is in the can.

Court documents from a Canadian class-action lawsuit claimed there is just one drop of ginger extract in about 70 cans of Canada Dry. The ginger extract in Canada Dry is derived from ginger root and called ginger oleoresin.

Amy Proulx, who has worked in the industrial food sector for over a decade, says ginger oleoresin is made from ginger root, and "at one point in the production, it was real ginger."

The Niagara College culinary and food technology professor says ginger oleoresin is made during a process during which the flavour compound is drawn out and made into a concentrated substance.

That process is key, she explains, because it allows the ingredient to "be really controlled when dosing into different products like a soda," and given how incredibly concentrated the flavour is, it needs to only be used in very minor quantities.

 "A lot of flavouring agents are used in parts-per-million concentration," said Proulx. 

That small quantity of a flavouring agent is not unusual, especially in beverages. Given how hyper-concentrated they are, they often account for less than one per cent of a product's composition, Proulx says.

"Parts per million is typically considered trace or minute," said Proulx. 

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has a regulation that states you cannot stress the presence of substances or an ingredient found in minute or trace quantities. 

Proprietary information

Neither Canada Dry nor the CFIA provided details about how much ginger is actually in a can of Canada Dry Ginger Ale. When Marketplace called Canada Dry's Canadian customer service line, an agent refused to provide an answer, saying the information is proprietary.

Marketplace first asked Canada Dry about the "made from real ginger" claim on its Canadian label in 2019 when the team was researching a number of popular products. 

At the time, makers of Canada Dry said the company was introducing "revised labelling in both the U.S. and Canada later this year," however, to date, the Canadian cans are unchanged.

This year, Canada Dry told Marketplace it hasn't changed the label in Canada because "it still accurately describes the product as it is formulated," and that all of its products are compliant with U.S. and Canadian regulations.

With respect to the changes made to the U.S. product packaging, Canada Dry told Marketplace it agreed to make the changes to "avoid costly and protracted litigation."

CFIA investigation launched

The CFIA did tell Marketplace it investigated Canada Dry's "made from real ginger claim" after receiving a recent complaint that ginger wasn't on the ingredient list. Following that investigation, the CFIA told Marketplace that the product meets the requirements to use the claim after Canada Dry confirmed its ginger ale uses real ginger extract from ginger root.

Proulx can appreciate why CFIA rules are confusing consumers.

"How food manufacturers prepare food and [what] is considered standard practice by the industry is not how consumers perceive food to be prepared."

Scott would certainly agree. To her, ginger oleoresin is nowhere near the same thing as the beverage she grew up drinking as a child, made from chopping up and boiling whole pieces of ginger root.

"Makes me think of a chemical," she said. "Something that's been manufactured out of perhaps the original product, but nothing to do with the real natural product at all."

IronKids missing iron

Lacklustre labels extend beyond the beverage aisle. After conducting its latest label spot check, Marketplace found a number of questionable labels, all of which drew criticism from some shoppers and that experts say aren't clear enough for consumers.

A review of IronKids Essentials Multi-Vitamin Gummies found that, despite the name, the product's ingredients list reveals there is no iron in the tablets. 

Health Canada regulates vitamin labels. When Marketplace asked how it's possible a vitamin can call itself IronKids when it has no iron in it, Health Canada responded with a statement saying that interpretations of the product's brand name can vary. 

But Dr. Paul Oh, a heart health expert at Toronto's University Health Network, says that could be confusing to consumers. 

"There's a mismatch in the IronKids label versus what's in there," said Oh. "If you labelled it with iron, then you might expect that there's some iron in there as well."

While some people assume it means there is literally iron in the vitamin, others might take it more figuratively as a symbol of strength or, as the brand itself suggests, may associate it with the Ironman brand of endurance racing.

In a statement, IronKids says that it is clear that "IronKids®" is the name of the brand because of the registered trademark symbol next to the name, which is owned by the World Triathlon Corporation.  

"A reasonable consumer can be expected to turn the bottle to the side of the label to review which ingredients (medicinal and non-medicinal) are included in the product."

Pomegranate, cherry or apple?

Oh was also surprised by another label Marketplace showed him: a box of Kiju Organic Pomegranate Cherry juice.

The front of the package features images of cherries and a pomegranate, but when you read the ingredients list, the first juice listed is apple. There is no photo of an apple on the package.

"That's rather misleading, isn't it?" said Oh, after Marketplace showed him the juice box.

The CFIA regulation states companies can't overemphasize the importance, presence or absence of an ingredient. 

After Marketplace brought the criticism of its packaging to the attention of Kiju, the company said it is in the process of redesigning its labelling to add an apple to the front of the juice box. 

In emails, Kiju also told Marketplace the image on the label usually refers to the flavour and noted that apple juice is clearly mentioned on the ingredients list.

CFIA wants to hear from consumers

The CFIA told Marketplace it is always interested in hearing from consumers about questionable labels and will respond to consumer complaints.

Oh said he would like to see the CFIA take a more proactive approach and step up its labelling regulations to help consumers make more informed choices. He believes more stringent standards with respect to transparency on packaging would be helpful. 

"Make a percentage of the real estate on the front of box or front of package actually devoted to accurately portraying what's actually in this product," he said.