Australia celebrates end to ‘Vegemite-gate’ after product back on shelves in Toronto

Vegemite are sold at a supermarket in Canberra, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Rod McGuirk

Canada and Australia have shaken hands to end a potential diplomatic dust-up over a yeast-based spread that many Aussies like on toast and crackers.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese thanked Prime Minister Mark Carney and his team on Saturday for helping end “Vegemite-gate” and ensuring a Toronto cafe can once again have jars of the product back on its shelves.

“This is a win for Australian industry, but it’s also a win for those people in Canada who get to enjoy this wonderful product that is so much a part of Australian culture and, indeed, Australian pride as well,” Albanese said while speaking at an Easter event in Sydney. “So I think that is a fantastic outcome.”

Carney reposted Albanese on the social media platform X, saying he’s looking forward to doing more to bring Canada and Australia even closer.

“This is the value of strong free trade with reliable partners like Australia -- and mutual respect for our cultural treasures,” he said.

Carney’s office noted the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, which earlier asked the Found Coffee cafe to pull its Vegemite, and the Prime Minister’s Office are separate agencies. But a spokesman for Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly said the Prime Minister’s Office did help expedite the process that led to Vegemite’s status in Canada being restored.

A news release from the CFIA on Friday said an inspection of the cafe showed Vegemite being sold did not meet regulations around vitamin fortification, adding the food label also wasn’t in both French and English.

But the agency’s release said a science-based assessment determined the added vitamins pose a low risk to people if the spread is eaten within suggested serving sizes, and the agency will work with Health Canada, the manufacturer and the importer to find a longer-term plan for Vegemite sales.

On April 10, Found Coffee owner Leighton Walters posted a video on his social media accounts, saying he was “torn and shocked” after having woken up from a surgery to a letter from the CFIA asking the cafe to get rid of its Vegemite stock for non-compliance.

“What I was concerned about was that in the midst of a trade war with America, the last thing you want is starting to create any sort of tension or especially with the most, most iconic Australian brand, that’s part of the fabric of our country,” Walters said in an interview Saturday.

About a week after word about the spread got around in Australia, Walters said he was humbled and grateful Albanese took up his cause and Carney responded.

“Overall, this is a win for small business,” he said. “But in my view, if you want to be the prime minister of Australia, you got to be a Vegemite kid. You know what I mean?”

The Australian High Commission celebrated the news by posting a picture of the yellow-and-brown jar, saying “Vegemite. Back on sale in Canada.”

While Walters is happy Vegemite is back on his store shelves, he said he would not call it “Vegemite-gate.”

“It’s not so much a political thing,” he said. “It’s more of me just defending my small business and wanting to do what I believe is right.”

Walters said he was born with spina bifida -- a birth defect where there’s a gap in the spine -- and one of the causes for it is getting too little folate or vitamin B-9.

“Vegemite helps minimize (the likelihood of the condition) in kids at birth,” he said. “To me, this was a very personal fight.”

Vegemite is one of those things that is worth fighting for and part of Australian culture and fabric, Walters said.

“Who would have thought that of all things, of all products, that Vegemite was the one thing that brought Australia and Canada together in politics?” he said, adding he hopes it becomes the conduit for more conversation, understanding and trade.

“Because from my view Vegemite is to an Australian, what maple syrup is to a Canadian.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 19, 2025.