Canadian watchdog busts 45 stores for ‘maple washing’ in US trade war but imposes no penalties

Dozens of Canadian supermarkets have been “maple washing” their produce — disguising American fruits and veggies, which have suddenly become toxic in the trade war, as homegrown.

But despite the alleged bid to dupe shoppers, Canada’s food watchdog imposed no fines or penalties – infuriating many Canadians.

Canucks wanting to boycott American products have been outraged by retailers who tried to hide “Product of USA” labels on their products by slapping a red maple leaf or other Canadian branding.

In many stores north of the border, sold out shelves of Canadian produce sat next to fully stocked shelves of their US-grown counterparts, which routinely went on sale to liquidate inventory as Canucks went “elbows up.”

Despite trade tensions easing somewhat between the two nations and no recent threats of making the Great White North the 51st US state, Canadians’ desire to snub anything red, white and blue has not abated.

Now, the news that as many as 45 stores nationwide are facing zero repercussions for trying to pull the wool over the eyes of shoppers was just too much for some to take.

“So fraud is okay now?” raged one Canadian on Reddit.

“The system is rigged,” lamented another.

“Is there a class action lawsuit for this yet?” asked another Canadian consumer.

Others pointed to how some common sense could go a long way.

“I do wonder however who is more stupid when it comes to things like avocado oil,” asked another Canadian customer. “The grocers for thinking consumers will believe such things are grown in Canada, or the consumers themselves for accepting such tropical foods originate in Canada?”

The shopper pointed to an April case at the Canadian grocery chain Sobey’s, in which a federal watchdog took four months to decide not to punish the company for slapping a maple leaf sticker and a “Made in Canada” label on the imported bottle of avocado oil.

“No labelling is the new game,” warned someone else on the platform, after a shopper griped about “mysterious cherries” that had popped up at their local Sobey’s with no indication of country of origin or label.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency told The Post complaints about country-of-origin claims on labels or ads have skyrocketed since the start of the year, with the agency receiving more than 70 in July and August alone.