Ontario consumers would prefer to purchase local meat, wine and produce, but are often unable to distinguish easily where a product is from, a report has found.

The report, based on a survey and focus groups, was conducted by the Ontario organization OnTrace Agri-food Traceability, in collaboration with Toronto research firm the Strategic Counsel.

The survey questioned 1,000 shoppers and found 41 per cent could not name an Ontario food logo or brand when prompted to do so.

Focus-group participants who were shown close to a dozen Ontario food logos were generally unaware of most of them, with the exception of Foodland Ontario, the VQA, and Ontario Fresh Chicken.

The survey found 93 per cent recognized the Foodland Ontario logo, while 60 per cent recognized the VQA logo. In contrast, only 21 per cent recognized the Homegrown Ontario logo, and just six per cent recalled ever seeing the Local Food Plus logo.

The report cites a need for a "gold seal or umbrella logo to replace or supplement the many logos being used today."

Most consumers indicated that price, convenience and freshness were the most important factors when it came to buying a product. However, shoppers also expressed a deep sense of pride and trust toward Ontario and Canadian farming and said they felt obliged to support domestic farmers.

Among the top reasons they gave for buying local over imported goods, 69 per cent of consumers stated that it was important to support Ontario farmers. Thirty-four per cent cited environmental reasons, while 32 per cent said locally produced food was more trustworthy.

More than two-thirds or 67 per cent of shoppers said they would be more interested in buying Ontario foods if they were Ontario produced and processed, and a similar number said they would prefer some sort of certification of local production.

"One clear message from this study is that consumers are increasingly passionate about eating Ontario products. But, they are also becoming more concerned about the food that they purchase," Curtiss Littlejohn, chair of the board of directors of OnTrace, said in a news release.

The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 per cent, 19 times out of 20.