In comments filed with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Food Marketing Institute said the record-keeping costs would far exceed the $2 billion estimated by USDA. FMI said USDA vastly underestimated the time required to set up and maintain a recordkeeping system and totally omitted any costs to segregate products by country throughout the supply chain; to design, print, and attach labels; to audit companies; to verify label accuracy; and to train employees.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Small Business Administration has agreed to review how the COO labeling law is implemented to minimize the adverse effect on small food retailers and wholesalers. SBA has no authority to change laws or regulations, but it can make recommendations to mitigate a law’s impact on small business.
