Kathmandu, July 26 -- For urban residents navigating Kathmandu's grocery stores, regional delicacies from specific districts carry an almost magical appeal. Beans from Jumla, cliff-bee honey from Surkhet, ginger from Salyan, apples and potato from Mustang evoke pictures of pristine mountain soil. Yet behind the idyllic images printed on slick packaging lies a stark reality-much of what is sold with the labelled 'organic', 'pure', or '100 percent natural' is nothing more than unverified marketing hype.

Consumer rights activists and agricultural experts have long warned that the city's appetite for indigenous foods has spawned a lucrative grey market. Urban shoppers willingly pay premium prices for items labelled with revered geographic id...