Vancouver grocer Doug Smith said it's been a struggle trying to discern what food items are taxable with the HST. (CBC)

Some B.C. grocery store owners say it's still not clear to them how the harmonized sales tax — which comes into effect in B.C. and Ontario on Thursday — is supposed to be levied on some food products in their stores.

Charles Tsui, an East Vancouver grocer and vice-president of the Lower Mainland Independent Grocers Association, told CBC News on Tuesday that he and many of his fellow grocers are in the dark when it comes to the 12 per cent HST and whether it applies to hundreds of products.

"We don't know," Tsui said. "No one told us what it's put on."

A 35-page list has been posted online by the federal government and provides Tsui and other grocers with some guidelines, but the inconsistencies are confusing, he said.

Tsui wondered why milk and pie shells will not have HST applied but soy milk and baked pies will.

"This is ridiculous," he said. "None of my 300 members of my association have a guideline like this."

Public seminars should have been held, breaking down the specifics of the HST for those whose livelihoods depend on it, said Tsui.

Doug Smith, who manages the East End Co-op grocery store in Vancouver, agrees that figuring out the HST has been a struggle.

"Finding out what is exempt and what is not hasn't been easy," said Smith.

Some will cost more

He has calculated that as of Thursday, 20 per cent of the 4,000 items in his store will cost more because of the new tax, which combines the federal GST with the provincial sales tax.

Anything that has the word "chips," "crisps," "puffs," "curls" or "sticks" in its name is subject to the HST, as are carbonated drinks and fruit drinks with less than 25 per cent real fruit juice, said Smith.

Meat, potatoes, fruits and vegetables escape the HST, but once they're processed and put in packages, the tax applies.

A chocolate bar is taxable, but packaged chocolate chips are not.

"A meal replacement bar has to have a certain set of ingredients for it to be exempt from the tax," said Smith.

Perhaps the easiest rule to remember when it comes to groceries, said Smith, is that if GST was applied before July 1, HST will be applied after that date.

With files from the CBC's Priya Ramu and Belle Puri