Federal law now requires fresh meat, poultry, fish, fruits, vegetables, peanuts, and certain nuts to display a label that tells you the country of origin of the product. This can come in handy if you have just learned that, say, peppers from Mexico are believed to be contaminated with salmonella. If the peppers in your supermarket are labeled as coming from someplace else, that should reduce your salmonella worries.
Under a decades-old law, food packaged (canned, boxed or bagged) in another country needed a label stating where it came from. The new law extends the requirement so that now almost all food should have a country-of-origin label. But there are exemptions and exceptions to the law, and that can lead to confusion when you're shopping for food. Here's what needs to be labeled and what still doesn't need labeling.
| COOL (Must indicate country of origin.) |
NOT COOL (Exempt from country-of-origin labeling.) |
| Meat sold in supermarkets | Meat sold in butcher shops. Labeling is only required in stores that purchase a certain minimum amount ($230,000) of fresh or frozen produce a year. Butchers do not purchase any produce, so meat sold by them is exempt. |
| Pork chops | Ham and bacon (processed food is exempt).* |
| Fish sold in supermarkets | Fish sold in fish markets. Labeling is only required in stores that purchase a certain minimum amount ($230,000) of fresh or frozen produce a year. Fish markets do not purchase any produce, so fish sold there is exempt. |
| Fresh salmon | Smoked salmon (smoking is considered processing, which is exempt).* |
| Raw shrimp | Cooked shrimp (cooking is considered processing, which is exempt).* |
| Sliced cantaloupe | Fruit salad (mixtures are exempt).* |
| Raw peanuts | Roasted peanuts, peanut butter (processed food is exempt).* |
| Raw pecans | Trail mix (mixtures are exempt).* |
| Frozen carrots | Frozen peas and carrots (mixtures are exempt).* |
| Frozen peas | Canned peas (processed food is exempt).* |
| Bagged lettuce | Bagged mixed salad greens (mixtures are exempt).* |
| Lettuce in produce section | Lettuce in salad bars (restaurants are exempt, including supermarket salad bars). |
