Bono works to enforce food labeling law
Government estimate: Cost to put new in place is$2 billion

By Doug Abrahms
Desert Sun Washington bureau
February 6th, 2003
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WASHINGTON -- Rep. Mary Bono helped corral 35 House members to sign a letter this week to the agriculture secretary urging the department to apply the country-of-origin labeling law that Congress overwhelmingly passed last year.

The Agriculture Department estimated it would cost about $2 billion to put in place the law passed late last year that requires labels on fruits, vegetables and beef.

That number is grossly inflated, said Bono, a Republican from Palm Springs, and doesn’t take into account that most produce arrives at supermarkets in boxes with origin already marked.

"(The Agriculture Department) is making it more difficult and finding a bunch of reasons not to implement the law," she said.

Florida began a mandatory country-of-origin labeling law on produce 20 years ago, and the cost was an extra two hours of work for one employee per store per week, the House members wrote to Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman. Members of both parties signed the letter with lawmakers from California and Florida leading the way.

According to Dave Kranz, a spokesman for the California Farm Bureau Federation, most produce farmers in places like the Coachella Valley are unlikely to see much impact from the new labeling law.

Some domestic labeling is already in place, and changes are aimed primarily at products being imported rather than exported. So there may be some impact on local growers who deal with overseas partners, Kranz said.

But some rancher and retailer groups say the cost and red tape will be higher than expected, surpassing $2 billion, said John Motley, spokesman for the Food Marketing Institute. The group represents large retailers.

"The produce industry has gone to a lot of bagged products and mixed products," he said. "How the hell are you going to label them?"

Paperwork behind the labeling will be immense because retailers will be responsible for proving that meat or tomatoes labeled domestic product truly are, he said. Stores will be fined if agriculture inspectors determine products have been mislabeled.

"If I’m a supermarket, I’m going to want proof of where this cow or banana or fruit came from," Motley said. "It’s not as simple as Mary Bono and her (allies) think it is."

But labeling produce in the Sunshine State was never a big problem, said Ray Gilmer, a spokesman for the Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association. Grocery stores place signs next to bins of tomatoes or oranges listing country of origin -- similar to pricing information.

"Its no big deal," he said.

The fight is expected to drag on much of this year since the mandatory labeling is not scheduled to start until October 2004.

Despite retailers’ gnashing of teeth, clothing, appliances and most other consumer goods have country-of-origin labels, said Bono, who introduced the legislation in 2001. The cost should be minimal and will help U.S. farmers compete with foreign imports.

"I think that’s a small investment to make to keep our jobs here," Bono said.

Doug Abrahms is the Washington, D.C., correspondent for The Desert Sun. He can be reached at (703) 276-5819 or by e-mail at dabrahms@gns.gannett.com