Canadian police seize 600 barrels of missing maple syrup

Eric Pfeiffer
·Reporter

Breakfast fans, rest assured: Your French toast and pancake toppings are a little safer this morning.

Police have made their first major breakthrough in the great maple syrup heist of 2012, after Canadian authorities seized 600 barrels of maple syrup that was allegedly stolen from a Quebec facility.

In September, the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers reported that a large percentage of its reserve appeared to be missing after conducting a routine inventory inspection at the province's global strategic reserve site at St-Louis-de-Blandford.

Quebec produces 80 percent of the world's commercial supply of maple syrup.

A local exporter said police approached him and said they intended to search his business property in an investigation related to the missing syrup. "They came in and said we're taking everything, there wasn't much I could do," said Etienne St-Pierre, who told The Associated Press he initially thought the officers were joking.

St-Pierre said the syrup awaiting export on his property was delivered by his usual group of suppliers.

In the meantime, the AP reports that the confiscated 600 barrels of syrup are being escorted aboard a "heavily guarded" convoy of 16 trailer-trucks as they make their way back to the strategic reserve in Quebec.

"(The convoy's) under police protection going somewhere in Quebec," said Yvon Poitras, the general manager of the New Brunswick Maple Syrup Association.