Hiding the country of origin

[attie]

For us it is compulsory for all food to be labeled with "country of origin",
eg. "Product of China"
"Made from Australian and imported ingredients" is about the only unclear one.

http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/_srcfiles/CoOL_brochure_2006.pdf

All bulk displays in supermarkets must carry "Product of xyz" - "thawed for your convenience" if it had been previously frozen.

 

[Michael in FtW]

Enforcement falls into whose jurisdiction ....Federal (USDA) or State ?????????

It actually involves several Federal agencies - but ultimately the US Dept of Agriculture (USDA) - Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) (USDA-AMS).

According to Release No. 0006.09 on 12 Jan 2009 - some States are also working in cooperation with the USDA to monitor compliance (last paragraph):

"Currently, USDA has cooperative agreements with 42 states to conduct retail surveillance reviews. USDA will conduct the retail reviews in the states not covered by a cooperative agreement and perform the supply chain audits."

Unfortunately - they didn't list the States in the news release.

So, in the case of COOL (Country Of Origin Labeling) it appears the USDA is the ultimate "food labeling police" authority. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has authority in other food labeling requirements and food safety - the Center for Food Safety and Nutrition (CFSAN) - but again it is a multi-agency operation with the FDA in charge (US FDA/CFSAN) and some operations overlap with the USDA.