Food, in brief

A US ban on some Canadian goods took effect at 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday, 29 September. [1]

US border officers must now turn away Canadian wine, vermouth, many spirits, non-alcoholic beer, molasses and whey, a by-product of milk used in protein powder. [1][3][4]

The ban covers about $967m of goods a year on 2025 figures, and 87% of that is alcoholic drink, says the American Action Forum, a US research group. [4]

President Donald Trump signed the orders on 8 September. He says Canada treats US dairy, cars and alcohol unfairly. [3]

The ban punishes Canada for its own tariffs of 15%, 25% or 50% on US goods. Canada brought those in after the US put 50% tariffs on about $20bn of Canadian goods. [4]

Most Canadian provinces had already stopped selling US liquor in their shops. [3]

About half of the spirits Canada makes are sold abroad, and 93% of those go to the US, says Spirits Canada, the makers' group. [2]

Much drink shipped in bulk, unbottled, can still go south. Bottled whisky and most other packaged drink cannot. [2]

The owners of big brands such as Crown Royal and Canadian Club might move their bottling to the US. Most small distillers bottle their own, so they are shut out. [2]

Glenora, a distillery in Nova Scotia, normally makes about a third of its sales in US states. Its buyer was put off by the 50% tariffs, and the order sits in a tank on its dock. [2]

Selling across Canada instead is hard, because many provinces own the liquor shops and favour their own makers. The head of British Columbia's wine growers says Canadians often find it easier to buy wine from Europe than from another province. [2]

Economists call the ban small, about 0.25% of Canada's exports to the US by one estimate. A trade lawyer says the 50% tariffs had already made much of this trade not worth doing. [1][4]

Why it matters. Watch whether Canada's provinces start stocking each other's bottles, and whether the two governments talk again; one trade lawyer expects the standoff to last months, not weeks. [2][4]

Distilleries across Scotland have paused production because demand for Scotch has slumped and unsold whisky is piling up, a glut the trade calls a whisky loch. [6] One distillery's co-founder guesses the industry is making about a third of its normal amount. [6] Scotch must age at least three years in oak casks, so what is sold today was made years ago. [6] On Monday, workers at Cameronbridge began a strike over plans to cut hundreds of jobs. [6] It is the biggest distillery of Diageo, which makes about one in three bottles of Scotch. [6]

Why it matters. Scotch sells £5.36bn a year abroad. [6] US tariffs from April 2025 cut its sales to the US by 15%, the Scotch Whisky Association says, before the US lifted them this year. [6] Nick Morgan, a long-time whisky industry figure, expects makers to find they have too little whisky in about five years, when demand picks up. [6]

A jury in St. Louis, Missouri, began hearing a Roundup cancer case on Tuesday. [9] Roundup is a weedkiller made by Monsanto, the chemical company Bayer bought in 2018. [9][10] In June the US Supreme Court ruled that states cannot make a pesticide maker print a cancer warning that the national regulator, the EPA, has not required. [10] So the three women in this case argue instead that Roundup was badly designed and unsafe to sell. [9] Bayer says decades of studies show glyphosate, its active ingredient, is safe. [9]

Why it matters. About 65,000 people have sued Bayer over Roundup, and Bayer wants a different St. Louis judge to approve a $7.25bn deal settling nearly all current and future claims. [9] This trial is an early sign of whether claims that do not rest on the warning label can still win. [9]

Sugarcane mills in Brazil, the world's biggest sugar maker, will follow the weather rather than prices until the harvest ends in December, analysts told Reuters. [11] Each mill splits its cane between sugar and ethanol, a fuel. [11] By early July, mills had used only 42.5% of their cane for sugar. [11] Raw sugar prices rose more than 21% in August, which should pull mills towards sugar. [11] But parts of the cane belt had their wettest winter in over 100 years, and wet cane holds less sugar. [11]

Why it matters. Each extra percentage point of cane sent to sugar adds about 750,000 tonnes to world supply. [11] StoneX, a broker, says Brazil's output may not pass 38 million tonnes, below the 40 million expected, and a trading firm says prices could rise further. [11]

Ukraine's agriculture ministry said on 23 September that it is looking at sending grain through ports on the Baltic Sea, after a meeting with Estonia's agriculture minister. [14] Russian attacks have blocked Ukraine's Black Sea ports, which used to carry 90% of its exports. [14] Most of its grain now leaves through three ports on the Danube river, which adds about $50 a tonne. [14] Ukraine's ministry says the Baltic could take up to 20 million tonnes but would add about $100 a tonne. [14]

Why it matters. Ukraine's agriculture ministry says it would need up to $2bn in outside help, and it has not said who would pay. [14] Ukraine has no Baltic coast, so the grain would most likely cross Poland, where farmers protested against cheaper Ukrainian grain in 2022 and 2023. [14]

The UK government has given English whisky protected status, so only whisky made in England may use the name. [8] It joins more than 1,700 protected foods and drinks, such as the Cornish pasty. [8] English single malt may be mashed and fermented at one site and distilled at another, while Scotch single malt must be made start to finish at one distillery. [7] The UK farm ministry says there is no UK-wide definition of single malt, and each nation has its own traditions. [7]

Why it matters. The Scotch Whisky Association says the looser rules undermine what single malt means, and it is considering its next steps. [7] England has gone from one whisky distillery 20 years ago to more than 70. [7][8]

A gene-edited banana that stays yellow for an extra day or two after peeling moved a step closer to English shops. [12] The UK farm ministry approved its marketing notice last week, confirming it is precision bred, meaning the change could have come from ordinary breeding. [12] Tropic, the Norwich company behind it, edited a gene so the fruit makes less of the enzyme that turns it brown. [12] The Food Standards Agency must still check its safety, and nobody can say how long that will take. [12]

Why it matters. A UK government study found 1.4 million edible bananas are thrown away every day. [12] No precision-bred food has yet been cleared for sale in England, and England's rules cover England only. [12]

The Philippines has stopped exports of fresh ube, a purple yam used in drinks, pastries and desserts. [13] Its agriculture secretary, Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr, says the country is short of material to plant and does not want other countries growing Philippine varieties to compete with it. [13] Ube harvests rose 17% in the first half of the year, to 5,660 tonnes, but the trade is growing faster than farmers can grow it, he says. [13] Processed and frozen ube can still be sold abroad. [13]

Why it matters. A Filipino food scholar says farmers sold so many tubers abroad that they used up the stock needed to plant the next crop. [13] A London cafe owner says he cannot get ube at the moment, though he has enough stock to last a year. [13]