Beware Faked "Local" Farmers Market Foods

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Unscrupulous marketers are taking advantage of consumers' growing preference for locally-produced foods. The market manager of a California non-profit that operates 18 farmers markets in southern California caught a vendor repackaging Mexican produce to sell at a farmers market. Shannon Reid, who works for a company called Raw Inspiration, caught Kirby Wylie, an employee of a farm called Rancho Las Gordonises, repackaging cherry tomatoes for sale at a local farmers market in Glendale, California, and documented it with photographs. After Reid confronted Wylie, he removed the offending items. But it isn't the first time either Wylie or Rancho Las Gordonises has been caught deceiving consumers. In 2007, Tulare County, California sanctioned Wylie for falsifying documents and suspended him from participating at farmers markets in the state for 17 months. He was also caught re-selling tomatoes at a market in Torrance, California. San Bernardino County also suspended Rancho Las Gordonises for 18 months and fined the business $2,000 for reselling pears and cherries.