Colorado is cracking down on counterfeit peaches, other produce

Move over, knockoff handbags. Colorado has a new public enemy: fake fruit.

Gov. Jared Polis signed House Bill 1031 last Wednesday (July 29), making it a deceptive trade practice to slap a “Colorado-grown” label on produce that never saw a single Rocky Mountain sunrise. The law, which takes effect Aug. 12, passed the legislature unanimously — because apparently the one thing that unites both parties in this state is an unwavering commitment to honest peaches.

The bill takes aim at imposter Palisade peaches, phony Olathe sweetcorn and fraudulent Pueblo green chiles, the holy trinity of Colorado produce, after the Palisade Chamber of Commerce raised the alarm about out-of-state fruit being sold under the beloved Colorado name. “When someone buys something, a Palisade peach, and it’s rock hard and they throw it away and say, ‘I won’t buy another one,’ it hurts the families who produce that,” bill co-sponsor Sen. Marc Catlin, R-Montrose, told lawmakers.

Rep. Matt Soper, R-Delta, who spearheaded the legislation, credited the state’s “cool nights and warm days and pure Rocky Mountain snowmelt water” for producing fruits and vegetables that have won national honors — and said that reputation is worth protecting. Gov. Polis, for his part, couldn’t resist taking a friendly shot at New Mexico over which state grows the better green chile.

So the next time you see a suspiciously firm “Palisade peach” at a roadside stand, just know: Colorado now has a law for that.