By Jennefer Sinco Kelleher
HONOLULU
-- Kona coffee growers want Hawaii's labeling law modified to provide more
details on packages of coffee blends that contain Hawaii-grown beans.
Currently,
coffee blends sold in the state that contain Hawaii-grown coffee must disclose
what percentage is grown in the islands, and it must be at least 10 percent.
The Kona Coffee Farmers Association said Thursday that it wants the state
Legislature to consider a bill it has drafted that would also identify where
the remainder of the blend is grown.
If the
association is successful an example of a package label would read, "90
percent Panamanian coffee, 10 percent Kona coffee."
The state
senator from Kona said Thursday he plans to introduce the bill at the end of
the month. "I respect the local community and Kona coffee is a big issue
for us," state Sen. Josh Green, D-Milolii-Waimea, said.
For the
farmers, it's about truth-in-labeling and protecting the integrity of a
world-famous Hawaii product. Hawaii is the only place in the United States
where coffee is grown. Coffee aficionados pay a premium for coffee grown in
farms in the Kona district, known for its rich volcanic soil and tropical
climate.
"The
state of Hawaii needs to be with the Kona coffee farmers," said Colehour
Bondera, the association's president. "We're the most lucrative
agricultural commodity in the state."
A pound
of pure Kona coffee can sell for about $25 – more if it's organic.
Not
giving consumers all the information about where coffee is grown dilutes the
perception of Kona's quality, Bondera said.
When the
10 percent blend law was introduced in 1991, there was a provision mandating
disclosing the origin of all coffee in the blend, he said, but pressure from
Honolulu coffee blenders resulted in making it voluntary, which none of the
major blenders have opted to do.
But
modifying the law to restore mandatory disclosure would just be a small step
for the farmers, he said. Several years ago there was a failed effort to
increase the minimum percentage of Hawaii-grown coffee in blends to at least 75
percent. The farmers would prefer only blends that are mostly Kona bear that
name.
"The
name Kona should not be used on any products that's not mostly Kona,"
Bondera said. "When people talk about wines, you can't a buy a Napa wine
when it's only 10 percent Napa."
Hawaii's
coffee blend labeling law is an offshoot of regulations put in place after a
scandal in the 1990s when inexpensive coffee beans grown in Latin America were
being passed off and sold as pure Kona coffee. It only applies to blends sold
in Hawaii.
In
August, Safeway agreed to change the label on packages of Kona coffee blend
sold in mainland stores in response to concerns from the Kona farmers that it
didn't provide information about what percentage of the famous bean it
contains. The company also agreed to begin selling 100 percent Kona coffee in
northern and southern California starting this year.