Walmart Mainstays Food Strainers

With only three years remaining on a 10-year commitment to purchase $250 billion in products supporting American jobs by 2023, Walmart continues to mislead consumers on where the items it sells are actually made.

Here’s the problem as it relates to this set of food strainers from Mainstays, a Walmart brand: If the strainers are made in China (see below), they are also likely assembled there, owing to the fact that assembly is part of the overall manufacturing process.

Why, then, do the tags say “Assembled in the USA”?

TINA.org is no stranger to Walmart’s deceptive made in the USA claims. In 2015, after finding hundreds of false made in the USA representations on Walmart’s website, TINA.org filed a complaint with the FTC urging the agency to open an investigation and take appropriate enforcement action.

This particular set of food strainers to which TINA.org was alerted by a reader isn’t listed for sale on Walmart.com, where the company continues to feature a legally ineffective “legal disclaimer” on product pages stating that while Walmart “aim[s] to show you accurate product information,” including country of origin, it has not taken steps to verify the information.

TINA.org reached out to Walmart for comment. In addition to asking why the tags say “Assembled in the USA” when the products are made in China, we sought clarification on the term “Factory Certified,” which is part of the logo. In response, a Walmart spokeswoman said in an email:

We appreciate you bringing these product labels to our attention and have alerted our product buying team to look into it. We know our customers care about where products are sourced and we want to ensure we are providing accurate product information.

Read more about TINA.org efforts to halt deceptive made in the USA marketing campaigns here.