The news that two U.S. senators are sponsoring a bill to make mislabeling a food product as “maple syrup” a federal offence rather than a misdemeanor is being applauded north of the 49th parallel.

Lori Burtt, a small maple syrup producer in Peterborough County, Ont., cheered the news. “All it takes is one person in the industry to ruin it for everyone else,” she said in an interview with the Toronto Star.

“I think as producers the integrity of the product is very important. You develop a relationship with the consumer and they expect you as a producer to make your product the very best and that does not include an adulterated product by any means.”

Two U.S. Senators took it upon themselves to sponsor the Maple Agriculture Protection and Law Enforcement (MAPLE) Act after a U.S. Food and Drug Administration investigation revealed a Rhode Island man was packaging and selling a “maple syrup” that was actually nothing but the cheaper cane sugar syrup.

Currently this is a misdemeanor in the U.S., but under the new act — if it becomes law — bottling fake syrup could carry a five-year prison sentence.

Here in Ontario neither Burtt nor Ontario Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs inspector Paul Bailey had heard of any cases where fake syrup has been sold. Bailey said there have been allegations of such, but they didn’t prove to be true.

Ontario has just introduced new regulations prohibiting the sale of adulterated or contaminated maple syrup products in July, 2011. The regulations reference a number of federal acts which also regulate labeling, packaging and safety, he said.

The maximum penalty for misrepresenting something as maple syrup in Ontario is $25,000 for a first offence, $50,000 for a second or subsequent offence or up to two years in jail. How those penalties are applied is up to the discretion of the court, a provincial spokesman said.