§1638a Notice of Country of Origin

Summary

Sellers must tell customers the country of origin at the final point of sale for covered commodities (certain foods like some meats, fish, perishable produce, ginseng, peanuts, pecans, and macadamia nuts). For lamb, chicken, goat, and venison, a seller can call the meat "United States" only if the animal was born, raised, and slaughtered in the United States, except for animals born and raised in Alaska or Hawaii that were moved through Canada for no more than 60 days, or animals that were already in the United States on or before July 15, 2008 and stayed here. If the animal was not exclusively U.S. in those ways, the seller must list all countries where it may have been born, raised, or slaughtered. If an animal was imported for immediate slaughter, the seller must show the country it came from and the United States. Ground versions must list all or all reasonably possible countries of origin. For fish, farm-raised fish must be hatched, raised, harvested, and processed in the United States to be labeled U.S.; wild fish must be harvested and processed in the United States (or by a U.S.-documented or registered vessel) and sellers must say whether fish are wild or farm-raised. Perishable produce, ginseng, peanuts, pecans, and macadamia nuts may be labeled U.S. only if they were produced entirely in the United States; naming the State, region, or locality is enough to show U.S. origin. Food sold or served in a food service establishment (like a restaurant or cafeteria) is exempt if it is prepared or served there and either sold in normal retail quantities or served to customers. Country-of-origin information can be on a label, stamp, sign, package, display, or bin; if an item already has a retail country label, no extra notice is needed. Suppliers must give retailers the origin information. The Secretary may audit handlers to check compliance and can ask for normal business records (for example, animal health papers, import/customs documents, or producer affidavits) but may not force extra recordkeeping or use a mandatory ID system; existing certification programs in place on May 13, 2002 may be used as models.