What Does ‘Ontario Raised’ Actually Mean on Your Chicken Label?

Ontario Raised appears on a growing number of chicken products in Ontario grocery stores. It sounds meaningful — and in most cases, it is. But understanding exactly what the claim covers helps you evaluate whether it matters for the specific product you’re buying.

What Ontario Raised Generally Means

In the context of Canadian poultry, Ontario Raised or Ontario Chicken typically means the birds were hatched, raised, and processed within Ontario. Canada’s poultry supply management system means that a significant portion of chicken consumed in Ontario is indeed raised here. The Ontario Raised claim is generally accurate when used by reputable Ontario processors.

What It Doesn’t Necessarily Tell You

The Ontario Raised label alone doesn’t tell you about farming practices, diet, whether the birds were caged or free-run, what certifications the processor holds, or how the product was handled after processing. A conventionally raised, battery-farmed Ontario chicken carries the same Ontario Raised claim as our Omega-3, free-run, Mennonite-farmed chicken from Ontario. The label is the starting point, not the complete picture.

What to Look for Beyond the Label

For consumers who care about more than just provincial origin, the additional questions worth asking are: Is the processor HACCP-certified? Is the chicken halal-certified? What were the birds fed? Is there a welfare claim — free-run, free-range, organic? These questions get at the substance behind the label.

D&D Poultry’s Ontario Sourcing

We source Ontario-raised chicken wherever possible. Our Omega-3 line comes from a specific farm — Country Poultry Processing in Ontario — that we can describe in detail because we know it well. Our Glacial Treasure line is made in our Toronto facility from Ontario-sourced chicken. We support the Buy Local Ontario initiative as a genuine operating principle. Three generations of the Dikeos family — a Greek immigrant family that built D&D Poultry in Ontario — have held local sourcing as a value, not a marketing claim.

Ontario-sourced chicken from Glacial Treasure — ddpoultry.ca/glacial-treasures/