Labeling transition produce?

One of the things that United's Tom Stenzel mentioned in passing during his talk at The Packer's editorial meeting relates to the issue of labeling on transitional produce that is grown organically. He noted some consumers feel like they should know if produce is grown organically or not. That should include, some consumers believe, produce that is grown organically but is in the transition period from conventional to organic. For good reason or not, some consumers have expressed unease with crops grown organically - perhaps because they think organic production methods are more prone to food safety risks.

In the course of discussion both then and later, I think such a labeling scheme is folly. Already, some organic produce is marketed undifferentiated as conventional because of market conditions. It would be confusing and offer no public benefit to to require a label denoting organic growing methods were used on transitional produce.