WASHINGTON (FNS) -- Representatives of food packagers here are up in arms over a Customs Service ruling that requires companies to follow new packaging-label requirements for frozen produce starting May 8, 1994.
Customs ruled in December that frozen food containing imported fruits and vegetables must state the country of origin on the package's front panel -- not the back or side, as is currently allowed. Violators will be subject to a 10% ad valorem fine.
The deadline of May 8 was chosen because that is also the date for companies to be in compliance with the Food and Drug Administration's nutrition labeling requirements. Customs said in a Federal Register notice it would be easier for companies to make both changes at once, but the American Frozen Food Institute and other industry representatives contend it is impossible to redesign and print millions of labels in time.
"We've already got our labels printed up, ready to go, and it's going to be a nightmare for the industry," said Steven C. Anderson, AFFI's president. "This is like punishing the companies" that have made the effort to punctually comply with the FDA rules, he said.
Anderson said food-industry representatives here are meeting with officials from the Treasury Department, of which Customs is a part, to ask them to propose a new rule to replace this one. AFFI also is asking its members to contact Customs and send "documentation of the hardship this will cause to the industry," he said.
One of AFFI's members estimated it would cost $1 million to print up new labels. Packaging companies are too backlogged to make all the changes in the next few months, Anderson said.
Bruce Gates, vice president of government relations at the National-American Wholesale Grocers' Association, complained that even tobacco health warnings and nutritional information can be on package backs. The new rule also goes against the Clinton administration's stated policy of promoting trade with other countries, he said.
The December decision reversed Customs' earlier position that country-of-origin markings on any panel could be considered "conspicuous." Customs said it was swayed by commenters' arguments that origin markings often are hard to find or obscured, and that brand names, such as Green Giant's American Mixtures, can be misleading.
Under the new regulations the print of the origin marking must be at least one-sixteenth of an inch high and "shall appear in conspicuous and easily legible boldface upper case Roman or san serif print or type which shall be in distinct contrast. . . . to its background," the notice said.
Gates said print that size would take up too much space on the front panel, especially if produce from several foreign countries is included.
Gates and Anderson also complained that the rule's wording is too ambiguous. It does not define the minimum amount of foreign produce content that would kick in the label requirement, nor does it define a "substantial transformation" to the product that would void the rule, they said.
