The setting of today's labelling announcement by Prime Minister Stephen Harper was a carefully chosen apple orchard with a red barn in the background.

Bushels of shiny red apples, even though they are not in season, were laid out just so. The topic was the sometimes misleading label "product of Canada."

Agriculture experts have long argued that this label is hurting Canadian farmers because foods grown in other countries — apples from China, olives from Europe and pineapples from the Caribbean, for instance — are often labelled as products of Canada simply because they are packaged here.

In his announcement, Harper observed that the issue had "received attention lately." Perhaps he was referring to CBC Radio's take on The House on May 17.

With Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz at his side, Harper announced that all the contents or "virtually" all the contents of food packages must be grown in Canada for the product of Canada label now to apply.

This will change the current practice, which dates to the 1980s when a manufacturing definition was applied to food. Under the old rules, if 51 per cent of the cost of putting the product on the shelf is spent in Canada, food can be labelled a product of Canada.

The labelling controversy has been brewing for several months and had been the subject of an investigation by the House of Commons agriculture committee.

Food experts say the misleading labels hurt Canadian farmers particularly now when they feel Canadian consumers would choose to buy Canadian products over imports if they were given more accurate information on the label.