LAS CRUCES – It’s that “chile” time of year, and the New Mexico Department of Agriculture Standards and Consumer Services inspectors will be out in full force conducting a “chile blitz”
around the state. The purpose is to ensure processed and fresh chile products are in compliance under the New Mexico Chile Advertising Act and NMAC 21.16.7.
The Act stipulates that it is unlawful for a person to:
• Knowingly advertise, describe, label or off er for sale chile peppers as New Mexico chile, or to advertise, describe, label or off er for sale a product as containing New Mexico chile, unless the chile peppers or chile peppers in the product were grown in New Mexico
• Knowingly advertise, describe, label or off er for sale chile peppers, or a product containing chile peppers, using the name of any city, town, county, village, pueblo, mountain, river or other geographic feature or features located in New Mexico in a misleading or deceptive manner that states or reasonably implies that the chile peppers are, or the product contains, New Mexico chile unless the chile peppers or chile peppers in the product were grown in New Mexico
You may find the New Mexico Chile Advertising Act, NMAC 21.16.7 New Mexico Chile Verifi cation and Record requirements, and the verifi cation/registration forms at: http://www.mda.nmsu.edu/scs/licenseregistration/ new-mexico-chile-labelingregistration/.
If you are growing or selling fresh chile and advertising it as New Mexico chile, you must register with the NMDA Standards and Consumer services division by completing a verifi cation/registration form. The verifi cation form for New Mexico fresh chile must accompany each load of chile and be followed through with the chile to the point of sale.
If you are producing or selling processed chile products and advertising it as New Mexico chile, you must register with the NMDA Standards and Consumer services division by completing a verifi cation/ registration form. You are only required to complete the form once for each product.
A list of registered vendors and products may be found at http://http://www.nmda.nmsu.edu/helpfaq/new-mexico-chile-verified/. For more information, contact Raymond Johnson at 646-1616 or rjohnson@nmda.nmsu.edu.
