country of origin labeling

Well, after posting the dead songbirds piece, I began to wonder about the origin of the canned and frozen vegetables i blithely zip over and buy when i'm dissatisfied with the labels on the fresh produce. Yes, I buy canned and frozen other times for convenience, too.

So I sent a few emails yesterday morning to the main brands of canned veggies I tend to buy: Del Monte, Winn Dixie, and Target. I was surprised to receive replies from all three before the end of business. The replies, which I'll post below, were courteous, but not entirely clear to me. So I also did a little more research on country of origin labeling.

If I understand correctly, the USDA requires country of origin labeling (COOR) on meat and fresh produce, but not canned. I honestly couldn't tell for sure about frozen. DelMonte and Winn Dixie said they always label their canned foreign products. Target said they adhere to USDA requirements, but apparently do not go the step farther to voluntarily label canned foreign foods.
I had a can from each brand name on the shelf and couldn't find anything indicating a foreign source for the vegetables. Somehow I'm not sure I feel confident about that after wading through pages of murky legalese about the food I feed my family.

Have I mentioned how excited we are about our new vegetable garden? I can't wait to see a real vegetable growing! (so far we have some really cute little baby plants.)

If you want to read up on it yourself, here are 2 sites (among many) that I found

http://www.newrules.org/agri/place.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Country_of_Origin_Labeling

If you run across any other useful information please pass it along.

The replies I received:

#1 Target

Helping to ensure the health and safety of guests and their families is our number one priority at Target.

Our buyers purchase food products from a variety of different vendors. We recognize that Country of Origin labeling is important to our guests. Our food vendors are required to comply with all United States labeling regulations, established by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Target also requires its vendors to comply with all U.S. Customs, North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
requirements.

#2 Del Monte

Thank you for your e-mail about Del Monte Foods. We're glad you took the time to contact us and appreciate the opportunity to respond.

The vast majority of Del Monte products are produced in the United States.  Some, however, such as Mandarin Oranges, are not grown in commercial quantities in the U.S. and must be sourced from overseas locations.   Also, due to the large amount of products Del Monte produces, we sometimes need to purchase fruits and vegetables from outside of the United States so that we can ensure a continuing supply of high quality products for our consumers at an attractive price.  In order to provide the freshest product possible, these fruits and vegetables must be packed immediately in the vicinity where they are harvested.  Likewise, some minor ingredients used in our products are not manufactured domestically, and hence must be sourced from foreign sources.

Regardless of the country of origin, please know that Del Monte's strict U.S. quality and operations standards apply to all of our products.  Our pesticide practices, water purity standards, sanitation requirements, finished product quality, and all other standards and procedures apply equally to our U.S. and non-U.S. products.  Additionally, all of our fruit and vegetable products from foreign locations are clearly labeled with the country of origin.

#3 Winn Dixie
Thank you for contacting us with your inquiry.

Our canned vegetables come from several different sources depending on the
particular vegetable and the time of year.  Most of our vegetables are grown and manufactured in the U.S. If any of our vegetables come from a country other than the U.S., this must be stated somewhere on the packaging.