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MONROVIA - 02/10/04 - Some imported maple syrup being sold by the trendy specialty food chain Trader Joe's is striking a sour note with producers in New England, reports the Los Angeles Daily News.

A Massachusetts-based association of maple syrup producers claims the Monrovia-based food chain that dresses its clerks in Hawaiian print shirts is selling lower-grade imported syrup as "Grade A."

Henry Marckres, who heads the Vermont State Agriculture Department's testing laboratory, says one sample he tested was close to commercial grade, which federal regulators have limited to uses such as curing tobacco, ham, and bacon.

The problem, Marckres said, is "someone who buys this stuff probably wouldn't ever buy a bottle of maple syrup again."

"It's hurting the good image of our product," said Tom McCrumm, coordinator of the 200-member Massachusetts Maple Producers Association.

Diane O'Conner, a spokeswoman for Trader Joe's, said the chain - with 217 stores in 17 states, including more than 70 stores in Southern California - said it would conduct an independent laboratory test on the syrup and would take it off the shelves if it is mislabeled.
 
"We obviously want to look into it," she said. "This issue was just brought to our attention late last week."

"We rely on our vendors' honesty," she said. "We've been working with them for years and have never had a problem, but we are taking this very seriously."

She declined to identify the Canadian firms that produced the syrup sold under the Trader Joe's label.

"The consumer thinks they are buying Grade A syrup for $7.99 a quart," said Joe Boisvert, president of the Massachusetts association. "The bottom line is they are not getting what they are paying for. And that's not right."

Boisvert, whose farm is in Hadley, Mass., where the chain recently opened a store, said he called the chain's headquarters after buying and testing some of its syrup.

Grade A syrup typically sells for $10 to $15 a quart in Massachusetts. Cooking or Grade B syrup sells for $1 to $2 less, McCrumm said, with commercial grade syrup going for less than $5 a quart.

The grading system, developed by the US Department of Agriculture and enforced by the Food and Drug Administration, applies to both US and imported syrup, McCrumm said.

"Maple syrup is a seasonal tradition in the Northeast," Boisvert said. "And something we feel deeply shouldn't be tainted."

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