JA coffee industry cracks down on illegal beans
About the article
This is a digitised version of an article from The Cayman Compass's print archive. Occasionally, the digitisation process introduces transcription errors, or other problems.
See the article in its original context from November 2002.
Brought to you by
Montego Bay, Jamaica (AP) - Authorities raided stores in the northern tourist town of Negril, confiscating more than US$15,000 in coffee falsely labelled as Jamaica's premier Blue Mountain blend, officials said Tuesday.
The Coffee Industry Board, which regulates Jamaica's coffee on the market, said it had been investigating blends being sold to tourists and found many were lower in quality than Blue Mountain, considered one of the world's premium coffees.
"There are other resort areas in Jamaica where illegal coffee touted to be Blue Mountain Coffee is being sold," said the board's general director, Cecil Goodridge. He could not say how widespread the scam was, but said there would be more raids in the future.
No one was arrested in Saturday's raid on about 15 shops because the board only has authority to confiscate agricultural products. Goodridge said, however,
that many of the confiscated beans had been stolen from legitimate farms.
Retailers told authorities they had bought the coffee from a man posing as a Blue Mountain Coffee Industry employee, Goodridge said.
The board first uncovered
the scam when a board member bought a package of coffee labelled Blue Mountain and determined in tasting that it was not, he said.
"We will not stop in our efforts in protecting Blue Mountain Coffee both locally and abroad and stem the booming trade of illegal coffee export," Goodridge said.
Coffee - a US$50 billion
industry internationally - is the most widely traded commodity after oil and employs some 20 million people around the world.
An official at Blue Mountain welcomed the news of the coffee raid.
"It is very important that the coffee regulatory body investigate and crack down on the illegal traders."
Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee, packaged for sale at the Coffee Mill cafe in Kingston, Jamaica. Photos: AP
