It’s certainly not the closest to home Americans will ever get to the “eat local” movement, but starting next week, we’ll at least know which countries produced the meat and produce in our supermarkets.

As of Sept. 30, supermarkets are required to provide country of origin information for meat and produce. There are some exceptions and a short grace period, but starting this week, consumers will know at a glance where their steak and potatoes grew up.

Country of origin labeling isn’t a new concept. It was included in a version of the Farm Bill earlier this decade, but got derailed by concerns over implementation and what producers saw as an onerous paperwork trail required.

Under this version, ranchers attest with their signatures that beef comes from where they say it does, according to Errol Rice, executive vice president of the Montana Stockgrowers Association.

“We’re eager to see how this is going to work in the marketplace,” Rice said. “We’ll be watching the meat case as closely as anybody. We understand there are going to be some kinks to work out, but hopefully the marketplace will work those out and consumers will continue to hold confidence in U.S. beef.”

Van’s Thriftway owner Paula Vander Jagt said her staff will be responsible for labeling meat in the same fashion as the boxes it comes in are labeled.

“It’s the responsibility of the vendor to label the boxes. We just have to pass along the information that’s given to us by the vendor,” she said.

Vander Jagt said she hasn’t heard a lot from customers about the pending rule change, and that while she hasn’t yet changed what she orders in response to the new rules, she may in the future if customers show a clear preference for beef or pork that is 100 percent American.

“Some customers don’t care, but others are very conscious of where their food is grown,” she said. “If we do get that kind of reaction, we are probably going to have to pursue a vendor that sells just ‘Made in the U.S.’ ”

Rice of the Stockgrowers is optimistic that will be the case.

“Our expectation is that the consumer is going to signal a demand for beef that’s born, raised and processed in the United States,” he said.

At Albertson’s, corporate spokeswoman Donna Eggers said employees have been in training since the first part of this month to learn how to handle the new requirements.

She said that some meat comes to the stores pre-packaged, while other cuts are packaged and labeled on-site.

Some meat will be labeled with more than one country, which could cause confusion. For instance, a Montana-born calf that’s fed in Canada than returned to a stateside processing plant would be labeled, “Product of the U.S. and Canada.” There are no requirements for detailing where the animal was born, or how much time it spent in which country.

Eggers said 90 percent of the beef and pork carried by Albertson’s will have a U.S. label, though she couldn’t say how much of that meat would have another country’s name and how much would be strictly American.

Rice noted that stockyards in Nebraska are the most common destination for Montana cattle, although some Montana animals do spend some time north of the border. If consumers show they prefer meat that’s never left the country, he suspects Montana stockgrowers will adjust their strategies accordingly.

Reporter John Harrington: 447-4080 or john.harrington@helenair.com.