Counting occurred on July 27 and July 28. The goal was to determine how many different types of produce were of American origin or where the Country of Origin (CoO) was ambiguous. I will refer to this herein as “USA/Amb”.

The counting was done manually using two “clicker counters” — one logged total number, the other logged USA/Amb.

Formula

1. Total: How many different types of produce are in the store?
2. USA/Amb: How many are either from America or the country of origin (CoO) can not be determined.
3. #2 divided by #1 gives the percentage reported in the audit.

Methodology

• Stores were not told ahead of time that this audit was being conducted.
• Stores were not given advance copies of the audit prior to publication, but some were advised of their overall position in order to facilitate comment.
• CoO was determined by looking at the label on the piece of produce or its packaging.
  • If there was no label, the sign was checked for a CoO.
  • If there was no CoO on the sign, that piece of produce was logged as USA/Amb
• In the event of a discrepancy between the product label and its sign, and either said it was a product of the US, it was logged as USA/Amb.
• Produce without any CoO labeling, but with signs that showed mixed-US and non-US, were scored as US/Amb. because the consumers couldn’t easily tell.
• Determination was based on “product of” or “made in” or similar markers. Informal designations such as “packaged in” or “imported by” were not considered as determinate.
• Products fronted by Canadian companies but grown in/product of America were logged as USA/Amb. For instance, Western Family (a Canadian company) romaine hearts were a product of the US and were logged as USA/Amb.
  • Similarly, products from American-owned companies which were grown outside of the US were not counted as USA/Amb (e.g., Dole bananas grown in Ecuador).
• Different vendors of the same product were counted as individually. For instance:
  • Three different providers of packs of blueberries were counted as three units.
  • Three different sizes of blueberry packages from the same provider were counted as three units.

Items Not Counted At All

• Any package which contained more than one type of produce (e.g., salad kits, prepared coleslaw)
• Packaged produce or nuts meant as snacks (e.g., dehydrated banana chips, pre-cut carrot and celery snack kits, etc.)
• Fresh herbs in measured packages
• Any empty produce that would have been present, but the bin was empty because the product was out of stock