On September 30, 2008, a new country of origin labeling law goes into effect here in the United States. Grocery stores will now be required to tell you the country of origin on your produce, meat and nuts. But this idea is not new. In fact, the law is five years old. So why has it never been enacted until next now? We have lobbyists and members of Congress to thank for that! But that’s a whole other discussion.

Here’s an interesting thought – think how much easier it would have been to stop the tomato salmonella scare had suppliers really known where their produce had come from.

NPR produced an interesting podcast not too long ago on food origins. One reporter followed shiitake mushrooms to different grocery stores. She asked produce managers if they knew where their mushrooms came from. Most of them thought California. Most of them were wrong.

There are two main producers of shiitakes in the US: California and China. The mushrooms from China spend about two weeks aboard a ship before they actually reach our shores. Until the new labeling laws go into effect, distributors could actually mix mushrooms from various countries and box them under their own brand name. As a result, most consumers assumed they were purchasing something local.

Produce labeling has been purely voluntary up until this point. As a New Season’s shopper, I always assumed everyone knew where his or her produce was coming from. That’s because New Seasons actually writes the state or country of origin on all its produce. So as I’m browsing the delectable selection of fruits and vegetables, I’m always looking at the labels to see the price per pound and where it comes from. The closer, the better in my opinion.

It will be interesting to see how grocery stores and farmer’s markets deal with this new legislation. I do think this new law will make us all wiser consumers, so make sure you read the label before you buy!