Cafe owner hits out after being banned from selling Vegemite in health regulations row

If you were to liken Aussie snack Vegemite to anything, it'd have to be Marmite.

Both are thick, dark brown spreads made using leftover brewers' yeast extract and both divide opinion on a regular basis.

Now, a humble jar of the foodstuff has sparked a mini trade dispute between Canada and Australia.

An Australian cafe owner living in Canada was recently ordered by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) to remove Vegemite from his menu after it failed to meet local health regulations.

Taking to Instagram, Leighton Walters, who owns Found Coffee in Toronto, wrote: "As an Australian-Canadian citizen, I am torn and shocked to have awoken from surgery to receive a demand for destruction of our entire supply of our iconic Aussie Vegemite claiming 'non-compliance.'"

The reason why?

An Aussie cafe owner has been left devastated after he was ordered to remove Vegemite from his menu (Instagram/@found.coffee.to)

Vitamin B.

The CFIA found that the spread had added vitamins, which goes against Canada's Food and Drug Regulations.

Under these regulations, only a select group of food products are allowed to be enriched with vitamins. Condiments are not included on the list.

"The Vegemite product being sold was found to have added vitamins which are not permitted in this product as per the Food and Drug Regulations and is therefore not permitted to be sold in Canada," a CFIA spokesperson told Canadian news outlet CBC.

That's because Vegemite is enriched with vitamins, which is only allowed in certain foodstuffs in Canada (Instagram/@vegemite)

With this in mind, surely all Vegemite products should be banned from sale in the country as they are all fortified with vitamin B, right?

But, in his Instagram post, Walters claims that the spread is still available to purchase elsewhere.

"Despite Amazon and major grocery stores continuing to profit of the sale of Vegemite and similar products like Marmite, for some reason, our genuinely Australian/Canadian coffee shops offering a healthy slice of home away from home, is seemingly worth targeting," he said.

"I don’t expect Canadians to care about Vegemite, I know it’s an acquired taste, but the principle and double standard doesn’t make sense to me… and it doesn’t seem right."

And he's even more floored that the spread's UK-counterpart, Marmite - a product also fortified by vitamins - is deemed compliant.

But Walters claims that Vegemite is still being sold by other Canadian retailers (Instagram/@vegemite)

Walters is now embroiled in a battle to get his beloved spread back on cafe shelves.

"Pulling Vegemite off our shelves hits at the core and the heart of our brand," he told ABC News Breakfast.

"This is now a huge battle that I really didn't want to fight for the sake of $8,000 (£6,040) worth of Vegemite that we have left, but I want to fight for my business, I want to fight for being true to who we are and who I am."

And he even has the backing of Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese, who said in a press conference: "I stand with the Aussie cafe owner.

"I did hear the report on that, and it's rather odd they're letting Marmite in which is rubbish frankly.

"Pro-Vegemite, anti-Marmite, that's my position."

Tyla has reached out to the CFIA for comment.

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