The importance of the label

By Dominick F. Maggio

Retailers can build consumer confidence through accurate product labeling.

Can you imagine how frustrating it must be to buy some lunch meats thought to be from animals grown and processed in the U.S. and then find out they were not? How do you market and label “Florida Orange Juice” when the oranges themselves came from Brazil? How will consumers know? How will people buying cut flowers be sure that the stems they are handling when they cut and put them on their kitchen tables were not sprayed by deadly pesticides in a foreign country that does not regulate farmers?

Here in the U.S., even though we sometimes complain about so many regulations, we still impose health and quality standards that give consumers some measure of confidence in the food they are eating and products they are buying. To that end, Congress enacted a “Product of USA” law to force producers to identify the Country of Origin on the label, the so-called COOL laws. Congress passed it, the Senate approved it and the President signed it, so we were safe right? Well not anymore.

The World Trade Organization (WTO), after suits brought by Mexico, Canada and others, believed that the law was unfair to other countries that supply meat and other products and demanded that the U.S. government remove the “Product OF USA” language from all food packaging. The U.S. appealed numerous times, but because of treaties, the WTO ruling went into effect March 1st.  So unless producers find an independent, non-government organization (NGO) way of identifying the source of their food, consumers will never know from where their food originates.

This flies in the face of what consumers are demanding, namely a preference to buy products that are “Products of the USA” and/or “Made in the USA” and are willing to pay more for them. That fact has been established through several studies, including a Boston Consulting Group study that said the number was as high as 88% preferring U.S. goods. So how does a retailer explain to a self-conscious shopper that they cannot tell him where that fish he is purchasing was caught or raised, or whether the beef he or she is about to eat came from a regulated source?

Is that building customer confidence?

In lieu of the WTO ruling, and subsequent compliance, all that is then available is independent authentication of the country of origin and in this country, only one such company offers such a service. Certified,  (www.madeinusa.net) has quietly become an international certification authentication source that provides transparency for consumers—hence they can make better-informed decisions in an effort to protect themselves. The company also gives producers and manufacturers a legitimate, extensive and affordable evaluation of content origin, with  state of the art tracking technology.

“Too many companies in too many industries stick an American flag label on their products while attempting to fool consumers into thinking they are ‘USA Made’ or a ‘Product of USA,’ but they are not,” says Robert Lowry, Certified’s COO. “And retailers need to understand that they share some liability if they allow a company to market a falsely or erroneously claimed label. And they find out the minute that someone gets sick or worse.”

Walmart announced its $250 billion initiative to source domestically produced products and, after several months of this “Made in USA” strategy, they have seen a positive impact on sales of many products. It is believed that this increase is based on the quality of the products that are made in the U.S. Major manufacturers have also seen this added-value, and increased their sales by certifying their pet products, spirits, fruit juices and building supplies and added a seal to their labels and packaging.

While you cannot always judge a book by its cover, what consumers learn from the label of the products they want to eat better be information that makes them want to eat it. Producers, manufacturers and retailers need to prove the value of their products through a certification process, or the consequences may just be more than they can chew.

Dominick F. Maggio is an international business consultant and president of AMDG Incorporated. He can be reached at [email protected].