Figure 1
Figure 1 includes two maps that display information about foreign-sourced food items found in California school districts. Map one is a map of California outlining the state’s county borders and is presented in the background of the graphic in black and white print. Three counties are highlighted green and project toward the reader three individual tables using a pyramidal three-dimensional effect. Each table refers to a specific school district – San Francisco Unified School district, Elk Grove Unified School District, and San Diego Unified School District – and includes a list of food items, such as mandarin oranges, tomatoes, or olives, and the respective country of origin for each of the those items. Map two is a world map, presented in Mercator projections style, with the western hemisphere to the left and the eastern hemisphere to the right. All but nine of the world’s countries are colored gray, including the United States. The remaining nine countries are colored in an effort to highlight them as the countries of origin for the foreign-sourced food items we found during our warehouse review at three of the school districts we visited as shown in the projected tables for each school district. The countries include Canada, Mexico, Peru, Spain Italy, Turkey, China, Thailand, and the Philippines. This graphic represents a model that Education could use to present centralized information on foreign-sourced food purchases made by the states’ school food authorities.
Figure 2
Figure 2, a set of six pie charts that each identify the number and percentage of domestic, foreign-sourced, or unclear food items that we found during our food warehouse inventory review at each of the six school districts we reviewed. We identified items as domestic if their labels included language that clearly indicated the item originated from the United States. Common examples of these labels included: “Product of USA,” “Produce of USA,” and “USDA Further Processed Certification Program.” These items are marked in the color blue on the pie charts. We classified items as foreign-sourced if their labels clearly indicated that the country of origin was other than the United States. An example of this includes “Product of Guatemala.” These items are marked in the color green on the pie charts. We classified items as unclear if they either did not have labels or the labels did not clearly indicate the country of origin. Many unclear labels included language such as “packed in,” “made in,” or “distributed by.” These items are marked in the color red on the pie charts. We present the pie charts as a series with three rows down, and two columns across. The first row presents pie chart data for the Elk Grove Unified School District in the left column and the Fresno Unified School District in the right column. The second row presents pie chart data for the Los Angeles Unified School District in the left column and the San Diego Unified School District in the right column. The third row presents pie chart data for the San Francisco Unified School District in the left column and the Stockton Unified School District in the right column. We attempted to review 81 items at each school district (nine items from each of the nine USDA food categories. However, none of the districts had nine items to review in all of the food categories. In total, we reviewed 375 food items at the six school district between March and April 2017. We found that the country of origin was unclear for the majority of items we reviewed, ranging from 52 percent of the items in Stockton, to 70 percent of the items in Fresno. Stockton’s warehouse included the highest percentage of domestic items at 45 percent. We determined that 45 percent of the food we reviewed in Stockton was domestic, as opposed to 21 percent in San Francisco. We found seven foreign food items in San Francisco, and only two foreign items each at Stockton, Los Angeles, and Fresno.
Figure 3
Figure 3, a series of three colored photographs taken during our food warehouse reviews of a selection of food items at the school districts we reviewed, displaying in a single column examples of food labels that clearly identify a foreign country of origin. The first photograph displays a red-letter font with the words “Product of Mexico” printed on the outside of a food item box. The figure includes a descriptive overlay stamp that includes the label’s country of origin language, “Product of Mexico” and the type of food item, “Grape Tomatoes.” The second photograph displays black-letter font with the words “Product of Thailand” printed on a yellow-colored label. The second photograph’s descriptive overlay stamp includes the labels’ country of origin language, “Product of Thailand” and the type of food item, “Pineapple Tidbits.” The third photograph displays black-letter font with the words “Product of China” printed on a white label. The third photograph’s descriptive overlay stamp includes the label’s country of origin information, “Product of China” and the type of food item, “Mandarin Oranges.”
Figure 4
Figure 4, a series of four colored photographs taken during our food warehouse reviews of a selection of food items at the school districts we reviewed, displaying in a single column examples of food labels that do not clearly identify the food items as domestically produced. The first photograph displays a black-letter font printed on a white label containing general packaging information, such as the food type, weight, sell by date, and a barcode. An auditor note to the right of photograph one states that the “packaging or box does not include a country-of-origin label. The first photograph has a descriptive overlay stamp that states “Unlabeled Food Item”, which indicates that this photograph represents an example of an “Unlabeled Food Item.” The second photograph displays a white-letter font printed on an orange label identifying the type of product and that the product contains ingredients from multiple countries of origin. An auditor note to the right of the photograph states that the “food items label includes multiple countries of origin but does not state whether more than 51 percent of the product consists of commodities that were grown domestically, which, according to USDA guidance, would comply with the Buy American requirement.” The second photograph’s descriptive overlay stamp states “Multiple Countries Identified”, which indicates that this photograph represents an example of a food item in which “multiple countries” are identified. The third photograph displays black-letter font printed on a white label stating the type of food product and a general reference to a city and state. An auditor note to the right of the photograph states “food item’s label includes only a city and state but does not indicate the country where the item was actually grown or produced.” The third photograph’s descriptive overlay stamp states “Only City and State Identified”, indicating that on this label, “only the city and state” are identified. The fourth photograph displays black-letter font printed on a white label and states that the product is “Baked in U.S.A.” An auditor note to the right of the photograph states that the “Food item’s label describes a process the food item went through but does not indicate where the item’s ingredients were grown or produced. It also does not state whether more than 51 percent of the product consists of commodities that were grown domestically, which, according to USDA guidance, would comply with the Buy American requirement.” Another note states “Other examples of unclear designations include ‘manufactured,’ ‘distributed,’ ‘packed,’ ‘crafted,’ etc.” The fourth photograph’s descriptive overlay stamp states “Unclear Designations”, which indicates that this is an example of a food label with “unclear designations.”