Cotco is a free Canadian cost-checking site: compare unit prices, look up barcodes, search recalls, and see what things have actually cost. Start here
Sources
Where the data comes from
Cotco uses public Canadian data only. Each source is named on the page that uses it, along with what it can and cannot tell you.
Open Food Facts
- Used for
- Barcode product lookup: name, brand, package size, serving size, and nutrition facts.
- Update frequency
- Community-edited and updated continuously; individual records can be years old.
- Known limits
- We query the Canadian catalogue at ca.openfoodfacts.org. Coverage of Canadian grocery brands is good but uneven, and records may have missing sizes, wrong units, or outdated packaging. It contains no prices.
- Terms
- Open Database License (ODbL)
Statistics Canada (Web Data Service)
- Used for
- Canadian average retail prices (Table 18-10-0245), average gasoline prices in cents per litre (Table 18-10-0001), and Consumer Price Index series (Table 18-10-0004) behind the price-trends pages.
- Update frequency
- Monthly, on StatCan's published release calendar, typically with a few weeks of lag.
- Known limits
- Figures are Canada-wide averages, not the price at your store today. Provincial prices differ, series are periodically re-based, and recent values can be revised.
- Terms
- Statistics Canada Open Licence
Government of Canada Recalls and Safety Alerts
- Used for
- Recall search: titles, dates, hazards, what to do, and links to official Canadian notices from Health Canada, the CFIA and Transport Canada.
- Update frequency
- Updated as recalls are announced; the official notice is authoritative.
- Known limits
- Covers recalls and alerts published for Canada only; a product recalled elsewhere may not appear. Search matching is full-text, so a recalled product can be missed if your wording differs from the notice.
- Terms
- Open Government Licence – Canada
What Cotco does not use
Cotco does not scrape retailer websites, does not buy point-of-sale price feeds, and does not publish user-submitted prices. Any dollar figure in a guide or example is illustrative unless the page names a source for it.
Cotco is not affiliated with Open Food Facts, Statistics Canada, Health Canada, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Transport Canada, or any retailer. For safety decisions, always rely on the official Canadian recall notice rather than this site.