New Mexico is looking to a new certification program to protect the reputation of one of its signature crops: chile.
Gov. Susana Martinez and officials with the New Mexico Chile Association will be visiting The Range in Bernalillo on Tuesday to announce the program. The range is the first restaurant to sign up.
New Mexico Certified Chile will join other well-known trademarked products such as Vidalia Onions and Idaho Potatoes.
Martinez says chile is a way of life in New Mexico and contributes more than $400 million every year to the state's economy. She says people shouldn't have to ask whether it's really New Mexico-grown chile.
The program will build on existing law that makes it illegal to advertise any product as New Mexico chile unless it's actually grown here.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.