Vidalia Onion Farmers found Gates cheating
By federal law, the squat, sweet-flavored Vidalia onion can be grown and packaged in only one region in Georgia.
Onion Stakeout
The events leading to the Gates farm’s probation began in April, when locals noticed it was getting onions to market faster than better-equipped competitors, including organic Vidalias that had failed everywhere else.
Then they spotted something extraordinary: a truck carrying yellow onions from outside of Vidalia territory entering the region at the height of the Vidalia season. The onions were from Florida, including from one of Gates’s earlier farm acquisitions. The interloping vegetables were unloaded at Stanley’s packing house.
Competitors staked out the route, taking videos and iPhone pictures.
The state found organic yellow onions inside Stanley’s packing facility that weren’t properly segregated from Vidalias as required by law. After reviewing hundreds of shipping documents, it found no evidence that the lesser bulbs had been shipped as Vidalias.
“There are two things you cannot do,” Black said. “You cannot pack a yellow onion in a Vidalia onion bag. And you cannot have non-Vidalia yellow onions in the packing facility when Vidalia onions are present.”
Since the disciplinary action in June, things have quieted in the Vidalia fields. Vigilance will continue, as it always does, said Jason Herndon, chairman of an onion advisory committee.
“If we let issues fall through the cracks,” he said, “the Vidalia onion will be just another sweet onion.”
https://www.swtimes.com/article/20150809/NEWS/308099988