100% Kona Coffee

This is obviously an old article that I am copying to this discussion
but the battle still continues and the players are the same.

Article URL: http://starbulletin.com/2006/05/22/editorial/editorial01.html
© 1996-2008 The Honolulu Star-Bulletin | www.starbulletin.com

StarBulletin.com
Vol. 11, Issue 142 - Monday, May 22, 2006
OUR OPINION

Bean certification is tempest in a coffee pot
THE ISSUE
A Kona coffee industry group, at odds with farmers, wants the state to
impose regulations on the growers.

ABSENT a compelling need, government should refrain from imposing
rules on businesses and industries, particularly if regulation could
impede competition or harm enterprises.

Without evidence that Kona farmers are damaging Hawaii's unique coffee
industry by selling counterfeit Kona coffee, the state Department of
Agriculture should not saddle them further with red tape. In addition,
consideration should be given to stricter labeling of Hawaii-branded
brews and products to protect the prized, high-quality coffee for
which Kona is renown.

The call for a new level of certification comes from a major coffee
seller, who concedes he has no knowledge of anyone here using
deceptive practices to pass off a non-Kona product as the premium
bean.

Jim Wayman, chief executive of Hawaii Coffee Co., is pushing the state
to require all farmers and anyone who processes and sells the coffee
to have their products certified.

At present, state law sensibly allows growers in the Kona district to
roast beans for sale without certification, simply because of
location. Certification is reserved for unroasted beans shipped out of
the region to prevent fraud.

Expanding certification would unduly burden farmers and could hamper
their ability to sell their harvest directly to consumers who are
willing to pay higher prices for pure Kona, rather than the more
common, cheaper blends that generally contain no more than 10 percent
of the premium beans.

These coffee mixes, allowed by state law to carry the Kona name,
arguably have caused more harm to the Kona reputation. Moreover, lack
of federal protections for Hawaii's product means that outside the
state, any coffee can masquerade as Kona.

The conflict over certification continues a struggle between Wayman
and farmers, many of whom have withdrawn from the Hawaii Coffee
Association, an industry group he chairs, because they feel its
mission leans toward those who retail rather than grow coffee.

Wayman's heavy-handed tactics have fueled the conflict. In the
certification skirmish, he threatened to initiate an ad campaign that
would claim that uncertified Kona "may not be genuine." Though he says
his threat wasn't serious, such an effort could hurt the Kona name
more than it would help.

There are many problems with the Kona coffee industry that need
fixing, but this isn't one of them. The state should set this non-
issue aside and tackle the real ones.

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Aloha,

Well the legislative season is upon us again in Hawaii so citizens
beware!

Seriously though this particular matter has to do with Kona coffee.

We ask you to support Kona coffee by going to this web address
http://www.petitiononline.com/75Kona/petition.html and signing the
petition.

If passed the new law will mandate that in order to use the "Kona"
name on the label that a coffee must contain a minimum of 75% Kona
coffee. Truly this is just a start because we cannot get a 100%
requirement passed by the legislature. The blenders are too large a
powerful and contribute too much money to the politicians to win that
war this time.

In fact the current law allows as little as 10% Kona coffee to be
present in a blend and it can still say Kona on the label. I know with
certainty that some blenders on the mainland ignore even this as they
have told me directly. This costs Kona coffee farmers, the state of
Hawaii lots of money and reflects very poorly on 100% Kona coffee!

Additionally, did you know that any commercial quantity of green beans
imported into Hawaii or the mainland for roasting from other countries
are fumigated with a known cancer causing chemical that is banned from
use with other foods?????????????

There's more! What is the other plus 90% of the coffee contained in
the Kona blend coffee? No one knows for certain since there is no
truth in labeling informing the consumer where that coffee came
from!!!!!!!! It could be from Australia, Antartica, Greenland, Mexico,
Saudi Arabia, Iraq, damn near anywhere!!!!!!! It could be the dregs of
the dregs but the manufacturer(s) won't tell you! I guess he is really
not too proud of his product.

Your support of this petition is greatly appreciated. There is also
some legislation occurring in the Federal legislature that may solve
the truth in labeling law and I will post on that as information
becomes available.

Mahalo,

Page

KCFA and KCC member