The largest operator of Southern California farmers markets has protected a vendor who buys produce wholesale and misrepresents it as his own, alleged one of the company’s managers, who made the claim at a listening session held by the California Department of Food and Agriculture last week in Santa Monica. The operator has denied the allegation, but the repercussions seem likely to reverberate in the farmers market world.

The bombshell came near the end of the session, from Shannon Reid, a market manager for Raw Inspiration, a nonprofit organization that runs 18 markets in Southern California in conjunction with a company called California Certified Farmers’ Markets. She told the regulators that she had caught a vendor repackaging produce from Mexico for sale at one of her markets but had been discouraged by her organization from reporting such violations to authorities. She said that her employer later retaliated against her after she did so anyway.

Many venues call themselves farmers markets, but California’s 719 certified farmers markets are part of a program established by the state in 1977 to allow farmers to sell directly to consumers. The agricultural commissioner of each county certifies growers and markets. Sponsors of farmers markets include municipalities, nonprofit organizations and certified farmers.