Many schools, institutions, and large companies contract with food service management companies, who have relationships with food distributors.  Customers who request (and reportedly receive) local foods may have no way of verifying whether or how much of the foods came from local farmers.  Public health is also an important concern: the production and distribution processes must be certified, and foods must be traceable in case of recalls or health concerns.  There are existing public health regulations that address production and processing standards, but these may be ill-suited to necessary uses and the diversity of farmers.

All stakeholders (customers, food service management companies, distributors, DAR, advocates) need to develop guidelines regarding “local” labeling, and a process should be set up for third party verification of local foods purchased through conventional food distributors.  

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