Sunkist to Put Country-of-Origin Label on Fresh Produce

California’s largest marketer of citrus fruit plans to voluntarily put country-of-origin labels on its produce, a move it hopes will head off a planned federal labeling mandate criticized by some in the industry as burdensome.

As early as this summer, Sunkist Growers Inc. will add “USA” to the familiar dime-size, red-white-and-blue stickers it puts on individually sold oranges, lemons, tangerines and grapefruit.

Sunkist, a 110-year-old cooperative based in Sherman Oaks, supports country-of-origin labeling and has long put such information on its packing boxes and bagged fruit.

But the co-op opposes the federal government’s latest proposal for a national labeling program. Sunkist says it wants to show Washington that a voluntary program that isn’t burdensome to growers, shippers or retailers can work.

There are “a lot of bureaucratic and implementation issues with the proposed regulations,” said Santa Paula citrus rancher Richard Pidduck, a member of the Sunkist board of directors.

If country-of-origin labeling “can be done successfully on a voluntary basis,” he said, “maybe whatever regulations are ultimately proposed will be more reasonable.”

To supply consumers with more information about what they buy, supermarkets were supposed to start providing country-of-origin data on fresh produce, meat products and other food items by Sept. 30 under provisions in the 2002 farm bill.

Pressure from producers, who regarded proposed U.S. Department of Agriculture rules for the program as too costly to carry out, persuaded Congress to delay the labeling requirement for two years.

That angered proponents of the labeling program, including Rep. Mary Bono (R-Palm Springs), who two years ago sponsored an amendment to the farm bill requiring fresh produce labeling.

Bono last month introduced legislation to reinstate the Sept. 30 deadline and streamline the labeling program.

“It’s a matter of simple consumer empowerment,” said Bono, who views labeling as critical to efforts to ensure food safety and help U.S. producers battle imports.

The issue has gained prominence as lawmakers have tried to reassure the public about the safety of America’s food supply, most recently in the wake of the discovery last year of a case of mad cow disease in Washington state.

Polling data released in January by the National Farmers Union, a Colorado-based group that has pushed hard for mandatory labeling, showed that 82% of people surveyed wanted country-of-origin information included on food and that 85% would be more likely to buy food produced in the United States.

Those results were welcomed by Sunkist growers, who hope country-of-origin labels will help give U.S. producers a marketing advantage over foreign competitors.

The U.S. citrus industry has lost ground in recent years to low-cost producers in countries such as South Africa, Australia and Chile which are competing with domestic brands for shelf space and consumer loyalty. Last year, imports accounted for 14.5% of the fresh citrus consumed in the U.S., up from 3.6% in 1990.

Last year, Sunkist began putting its brand name on foreign-grown produce marketed outside the United States. The move represented a fundamental shift for the cooperative, which years ago wouldn’t have touched fruit that hadn’t been grown by its members in California and Arizona.

So far, Sunkist has sold little of the foreign-grown fruit in the United States. Sunkist spokeswoman Claire Smith said any of that produce that reaches store shelves from now on would carry a sticker showing the country where it was grown.

Sunkist isn’t the first in the industry to embrace voluntary country-of-origin labeling. Other growers that provide such information include Santa Ana-based avocado packer Calavo Growers Inc., which labels imports and domestic produce.

Indeed, the labeling concept has plenty of support in other parts of the agricultural industry, even if there is disagreement about how the national program should be run.

Although concerns remain about the expense of complying with record-keeping requirements and other provisions, the California Farm Bureau Federation has urged the USDA to adopt new guidelines by the old Sept. 30 deadline.

“We would like to see a labeling program and we want to see it be cost-effective so that no one segment of the industry is having to bear [an inordinate amount] of the costs,” said Bruce Blodgett, a director in the bureau’s national affairs and research division.

Increased costs are exactly the issue for the California Cattlemen’s Assn., which like other groups supports country-of-origin labeling but opposes the USDA rules.

The association objects to what it considers onerous and costly record-keeping requirements that would force producers to provide detailed information about where their cattle, and eventually all butchered parts, are born and raised.

According to a USDA analysis, first-year costs to growers, retailers and others would range from $582 million to $3.9 billion.

“Certainly it had the potential to saddle our members, and beef and cattle producers throughout the nation, with increased costs for production without providing any quantifiable benefits,” said Ben Higgins, the association’s executive vice president.

At Sunkist, new country-of-origin labels will be distributed to citrus packing houses, where workers will start using them as they run out of the old stickers. Costs for the design change were minimal, according to the 6,500-member cooperative.

“I think the company is trying to do the right thing,” said citrus rancher John Grether, a third-generation Ventura County grower who last month was elected a vice chairman of the Sunkist board. “I think what Sunkist is trying to show is that it can be done in a way that’s beneficial to both the consumers and the producers.”