Think you're buying Canadian at the grocery store? That product may actually be from the U.S.

Dave Lawson is a proud Canadian who has bumper stickers that say "Canada is not for sale." He's fed up with grocery products plastered with maple leaves and patriotic logos that turn out to be American imports.

It's called maple washing, and it's on store shelves across the country.

"It's kind of disappointing when you actually look at some of the so-called Canadian brands…. not a lot of them are made in Canada. So it's like, 'OK, why are we doing this? Let's do better,'" the St. Catharines, Ont., man told CBC's Marketplace.

In the last week, U.S. President Donald Trump made his latest tariff threats against Canada. Prime Minister Mark Carney renewed the push to "Buy Canadian" and posted a video online reiterating that the government will do the same in the projects it is supporting around the country.

Lawson is part of a Facebook group dedicated to buying Canadian, especially given calls to keep "elbows up" in response to the U.S. trade war. For him, and many others, that means picking products that are made here with Canadian ingredients. 

One of the products that frustrates him is Betty Crocker’s chocolate chip cookie mix. The front of the package has a maple leaf and the words "Canada's #1 Selling Baking Mix Brand." When you flip it over, it says, “Product of USA.”

"This is advertising trying to make it look Canadian, when in reality it's not," Lawson said.

Marketplace put the cookie mix and some other popular food labels to the test, and found that with patriotic packaging on some products that are actually American imports, the truth can be buried on the back, where it's easy to miss. 

The packaging is "at the very least confusing, but I would argue misleading as well," Mike von Massow, a food economics professor at the University of Guelph, told Marketplace. 

Marketplace asked General Mills, the company behind the Betty Crocker cookie mix, about its label. In a statement, the company said it highlights "Canada’s #1 Selling Baking Mix Brand" because it's true, based on sales, and that the label is not new and reflects the pride they have "in being a part of the kitchens all across Canada." 

Another example is Habitant pea soup, a French Canadian tradition with the phrase "Designed in Canada" on the front. But turn the can around and it says "Product of USA."

Marketplace viewer Bob Bastien says he felt incensed with soup giant Campbell's, the company behind Habitant, when he noticed where it's made.

"It seems as though Campbell's is trying to sell us a lie," said Bastien, who lives in Montreal. 

"Growing up as a French Canadian, pea soup was part of our diet," he said. "I've always considered Habitant pea soup French Canadian, and I noticed that it's not really Canadian."