(a) Pursuant to 7 CFR 60 Country of Origin Labeling for Fish and Shellfish and 7 CFR 65 Country of Origin Labeling of Beef, Pork, Lamb, Chicken, Goat Meat, Perishable Agricultural Commodities, Macadamia Nuts, and Peanuts, every Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA) licensed retailer who sells or offers for sale in this state is required to notify customers of the country of origin of covered commodities. - (i) "Covered Commodities" include raw muscle cuts of beef (including veal), lamb, chicken, goat and pork; ground beef, lamb, pork, goat and chicken; wild and farm-raised fish and shellfish; perishable agricultural commodities; macadamia nuts, pecans, peanuts, and ginseng.
- (A) Covered commodities are excluded from this part if the commodity is a processed food.
- (ii) "Perishable agricultural commodity" means fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables of every kind and character which have not been manufactured into articles of a different kind or character, including cherries in brine.
- (iii) "Processed food item" means a retail item derived from a covered commodity that has undergone specific processing resulting in a change in the character of the covered commodity, or that has been combined with at least one (1) other covered commodity or other substantive food component (e.g., chocolate, breading, sauces), except that the addition of a component (such as water, salt or sugar) would not in itself result in a processed food item. Specific processing that results in a change in the character of the covered commodity includes cooking, curing, smoking and restructuring.
- (iv) "Retailer" as defined by the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA) of 1930 refers only to retailers handling fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables with an invoice value of at least $230,000.00 annually. Those retailers are required to be licensed under PACA.
- (v) "Wholesaler" any establishment that supplies retailers with one or more of the covered commodities and will be required by retailers to provide country of origin and, if applicable, method of production information so that the retailers can accurately supply that information to customers.
(b) The following labeling is required: - (i) Country of origin declarations which can be in the form of a placard, sign, label, sticker, band twist tie, pin tag, or other format which allows consumers to identify the country of origin.
- (A) The declaration of the country of origin of a product may be in statement form such as "Product of the USA", "Produce of the USA", or "Grown in Mexico", may state the country of origin only, such as USA or Canada; or may be indicated by a check box.
- (B) The declaration of the country of origin must be legible and in a conspicuous location, which makes it likely to be read and understood by the customer under normal conditions of purchase.
- (C) The declaration of country of origin may be typed, printed, or handwritten and must not obscure other labeling information.
- (D) Bulk containers such as display cases, shipper containers, bins, cartons and barrels used at retail level to present product to consumers, may contain covered commodities from more than one country of origin provided all possible country of origins are listed.
- (E) Only those country abbreviations approved for use under Customs and Border Protection rules, regulations and policies, such as "UK" for "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland", "Luxemb" for Luxembourg, and "U.S." or "USA" for the "United States of America" are acceptable.
- (I) Symbols or flags may be used to denote country of origin with or as part of a proper label.
- (F) Domestic perishable agricultural commodities, peanuts, pecans, macadamia nuts and ginseng may use abbreviated U.S. state declarations as long as the federal Country Of Origin Labeling (COOL) regulations are followed and the official U.S. Postal Service abbreviations are used.
- (G) Method of production for fish and shellfish can also be declared on the form described in Chapter 4, Section 3(b) (i). Acceptable forms of production designations include, "wild caught", "wild", "farm-raised", or "farmed".
- (I) Method of production designations of "ocean caught", "caught at sea", "line caught", "cultivated", or "cultured", are not acceptable.
(c) The following record keeping is required: - (i) All records must be legible and may be maintained in either electronic or hard copy formats. Due to the variation in inventory and recordkeeping systems, various forms are acceptable.
- (ii) Meat suppliers and retailers shall make records maintained in the normal course of business that verify an origin claim available to the director, upon request.
- (A) Such records shall be provided within 5 business days of the request.
- (iii) A supplier that provides a covered commodity to a retailer, whether directly or indirectly, must provide the country (ies) of origin information for covered commodities.
- (iv) Country of origin labeling records, including pre-labeled consumer packages or master containers, must contain information identifying the retail supplier, the product, the country (ies) of origin and method of production (if applicable) tracking, linking the documentation to the covered commodity.
- (A) Acceptable forms of tracking include:
- (III) Purchase orders; which must contain:
- (1.) Purchase order number;
- (3.) Product unique identifier, best by date, or lot number; and
- (4.) Package size, brand name, etc.
- (v) All records that identify a covered commodity shall be maintained for a period of one (1) year from the date the retailer makes the country of origin declaration.
(d) Inspectors of the Wyoming Department of Agriculture shall, as part of their routine evaluations of retail establishments, inspect the covered commodity declarations of country of origin and method of production, including the records maintained for covered commodities.