Why Canada Dry's 'made from real ginger' claim isn't on U.S. cans

Emily Scott grew up drinking ginger beer in the Caribbean, so when her son brought some Canada Dry Ginger Ale over, she thought she'd give it a go.

But after the first sip, she noticed the crisp, intense flavour she was expecting was missing. 

A closer look at the product's ingredient list revealed something else was missing too: "Sure enough, there was no ginger mentioned at all," Scott said.

She was shocked, given that the can is clearly labelled that its ingredients are "made from real ginger." 

"I thought, 'Well, here's another example of false or misleading information on packages,'" said Scott.

But if she were sipping a Canada Dry in the U.S., she might have been less surprised. The American version of the same can paints a much clearer picture of what is — and isn't — inside.

In the United States, the claim that Canada Dry Ginger Ale is  "made from real ginger" was removed following a class-action settlement in 2019. 

Despite similar litigation in Canada, the claim was not removed from Canadian cans as it was not part of a settlement. 

Take a closer look at the can and you'll spot another difference: the ingredient list. The U.S. list is explicitly clear: the ginger ale contains "less than two per cent" ginger extract. However, the list for the Canadian cans only refers to "natural flavour" and does not quantify how much is in the can.

Court documents from a Canadian class-action lawsuit claimed there is just one drop of ginger extract in about 70 cans of Canada Dry. The ginger extract in Canada Dry is derived from ginger root and called ginger oleoresin.

Amy Proulx, who has worked in the industrial food sector for over a decade, says ginger oleoresin is made from ginger root, and "at one point in the production, it was real ginger."

The Niagara College culinary and food technology professor says ginger oleoresin is made during a process during which the flavour compound is drawn out and made into a concentrated substance.

That process is key, she explains, because it allows the ingredient to "be really controlled when dosing into different products like a soda," and given how incredibly concentrated the flavour is, it needs to only be used in very minor quantities.

 "A lot of flavouring agents are used in parts-per-million concentration," said Proulx.