Becel has launched yellow margarine in Quebec after a change in provincial legislation allowed margarine manufacturers to sell a golden-hued butter substitute.
The Unilever Canada brand launched Becel Or Goüt de Buerre (Becel Gold Buttery Taste) in Quebec last week, after the provincial government agreed to repeal a law that prevented margarine makers from adding yellow colouring to their product, a long-standing practice in the rest of Canada.
“Our goal for ‘Becel Gold Buttery Taste’ was to provide Quebecers with a great-tasting, new margarine that was low in saturated fat and had no trans fat,” Margaret McKellar, brand manager, Becel, said in a release. “Now, we can also give them a great-looking margarine.”
The new margarine has 80% less saturated fat than butter, no trans fat, and is made from Canola and sunflower oils, as well as low-fat buttermilk. Becel also launched the new brand in the rest of Canada as Becel Buttery Taste.
The repealed law ends a bitter butter battle that heated up in 1997, when Unilever sent 480 containers of its yellow margarine to a retailer in Quebec. The government sent inspectors to seize the product. In 2005, Unilever argued before the Supreme Court that prohibiting yellow margarine infringed on its “commercial freedom of expression.” The company lost, but gained the right to sell yellow margarine in the province in June 2008.
Unilever estimates the colour regulation cost the company about $1.2 million a year because it had to maintain separate margarine productions, distribution systems and inventories.
Unilever will convert all of its Quebec-sold margarine brands to yellow over the next few months.
