Nine’s A Current Affair had a litany of stories last night, but one caught our eye more than most – one “Aussie Battler” in Canada being forced to remove Vegemite from sale in his shop by the Canadian government.
Rather than some trumped-up tariff knock on (sorry), Canadian authorities have told Aussie expat coffee shop owner Leighton that the Vegemite he sells is too high in Vitamin B for sale in the country.
In fact, the authorities have threatened him with a $250,000 fine.
Leighton told the Channel Nine show that he’s been a “happy little Vegemite all his life” but found himself stuck in Canada during the pandemic. He then sold all his possessions in Australia and opened his Aussie-themed cafe in Toronto.
After his products containing Vegemite became so popular, especially the Cheesymite Scrolls he was selling, he imported a pallette of Vegemite to sell as-is. However, Canadian authorities said that the “added B vitamins and folic acid” made it ineligible to sell.
Leighton, on the other hand, told A Current Affair that Amazon was happily selling the product online and he was being unfairly penalised.
All told, 1.49 million Aussies tuned in according to the total TV reach figure, 1.01 million tuned in according to the average audience figure and it had a BVOD average of 84,000.
Over on Seven, its top-rating entertainment show Home and Away drew a total TV reach of 1.28 million, an average of 886,000 and a BVOD average of 150,000.
Channel 10’s top-rating entertainment show was The Dog House. It had a reach of 884,000, an average of 412,000 and a BVOD average of 16,000.
