Hawaii macadamia nut industry rallies around macadamia labeling bill
Many growers, workers and supporters of Hawai’i’s macadamia nut industry provided testimony on February 3, 2023 to support HB1348. The industry hopes that the bill will address transparent labeling of macadamia nuts in packages that either state that Hawaiian macadamia nuts are included or that use Hawai’i name and image to imply that the nuts are from Hawai’i. Reproduced below is the testimony of the Hawaii Macadamia Nut Association which gives its supports the bill, further describes the issue and makes a recommendation to improve it. Not reproduced are the many other stakeholders and supporters who provided testimony including many growers and workers who are being directly impacted and the ILWU who is standing behind its members and as well as supporting jobs in Hawai’i. We thank everyone for their support.
Testimony of Barbara Anderson, Secretary
Hawaii Macadamia Nut Association
February 3, 2023
RE: HB1348 RELATING TO LABELING OF MACADAMIA NUTS
Aloha Chair Gates, Vice Chair Kahaloa, and the members of the House Committee on
Agriculture and Food Systems,
I am writing to you on behalf of the Hawaii Macadamia Nut Association in support of House Bill 1348 RELATING TO LABELING OF MACADAMIA NUTS. The Hawaii Macadamia Nut Association was established in 1960 and currently consists of 49 members who are growers, processors, or marketers of macadamia nuts in Hawaii. Our association exists to educate the public on topics pertaining to all facets of the Hawaii macadamia nut industry.
The macadamia nut industry is a significant contributor to Hawaii’s agricultural economy. There are currently about 16,000 acres of macadamia nuts statewide on roughly 620 farms in the state of Hawaii. In 2021, the industry generated $62.73 million (51 million pounds of wet-in shell sales), and in 2020, it was the 2nd largest agricultural commodity produced in Hawai’i, behind only seed crops.
The Hawaii macadamia nut industry is under great stress from economic and environmental pressures. One of the greatest threats to the viability of macadamia farming in Hawaii is the misleading labeling of macadamia nut products. Currently there is little to no regulation to prevent the use of Hawaiian names and images to market macadamia nuts grown outside of Hawaii.
House Bill 1348 in its current form enacts positive changes to HRS 486-120.5; however, the bill is limited as it only pertains to consumer packaging of macadamia nuts labeled as “Hawaiian-Grown Macadamia Nuts”. It does not pertain to consumer packages that contain macadamia nuts of non-Hawaiian origin while misrepresenting the origin of the macadamia nuts by including Hawaii-based names and images on the consumer packages.
To address the foregoing, HRS 486-120.5 subsection (b) should read as follows:
(b) If a label on a consumer package contains language that a portion of the raw or processed macadamia nuts contained in the package was grown in Hawaii, or that by any other means represents the origin of the macadamia nuts as being from any place within the State of Hawaii, including but not limited to company name and images of Hawaii, the label shall be worded "Hawaii-Grown Macadamia Nuts", preceded by the per cent by weight of the macadamia nuts contained in the package that were grown in Hawaii, and shall appear on the principal display panel of the package. The per cent by weight of the macadamia nuts in the package shall be the percentage calculated by dividing the weight in pounds of the macadamia nuts grown in Hawaii that are in the package by the weight in pounds of all macadamia nuts in the package and multiplying the quotient by one hundred. A listing of the countries of origin of the portion of the raw or processed macadamia nuts not grown in Hawaii that are included in the package shall also be shown on the label.
Thank you for taking the time to consider our testimony.
Mahalo,
Barbara Anderson
Secretary
Hawaii Macadamia Nut Association