EDMONTON – After years of operation in Edmonton, a popular British food shop in Old Strathcona will be shutting its door for good on Saturday.
From Irn-Bru to Ovaltine and Jelly Babies to Lucozade, the owner of Brit Foods has made his livelihood selling products to British expats across western Canada for the past 17 years.
“We’ve had tremendous support in Edmonton,” said Tony Badger. “No matter where you’re from I think you miss a bit of back home.”
But the past five months haven’t been easy for Badger, after the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) pulled several of his most popular products from store shelves — including Irn-Bru and Lucozade.
But the popular carbonated orange beverage contains a food colouring that is prohibited in Canada.
WATCH: British food imports targeted by CFIA
As for Lucozade, “Vitamins and minerals, from what I understand – there’s too many of them by Canadian standards,” said Badger.
Jelly Babies — a soft British candy — have also been pulled from the shelves.
“If I understand correctly, those are a banned meat product because they contain bovine gelatin. And bovine is beef and British beef is banned in all circumstances,” Badger explained.
The CFIA says the restrictions are not new, and some of the products are available in Canadian-compliant variations. But due to limited supplies, Badger says he has no other option than to close the store.
READ MORE: CFIA says Marmite, Irn-Bru not banned in Canada
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John McCall, who was shopping in the store Friday morning, thinks the fact the shop has to close is “disgraceful.”
“If there was something wrong with the product there wouldn’t be too many people living in Britain right now,” said the Northern England native.
“Rotten,” added Ron Thompson, who left Britain in 1956. “I can’t believe it… very unhappy.
“Why would they ban this sort of muck?”
Badger says he’s looking at a number of options to try to maintain a presence in the city, but questions whether or not it really comes down to food safety.
“If it’s a regulation nationally, why are there 52 supermarkets in B.C. that are selling banned products? Why are there hundreds of British shops in Canada that are still selling these products?
“There’s a niche here and we’d still like to be a part of it somehow, but I can’t see how at this moment exactly.”
Badger recently closed his shop in B.C. He will be sending all of his products from Edmonton to his store in Saskatoon.
With files from Kendra Slugoski, Global News.
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