Posted January 31, 2014
While most celebrated when the U.S. House passed a farm bill on Wednesday, some regional beef producers were disappointed when the Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) provision was not excluded, according to an article by AgWeek available here.
The COOL final rule, available here, became effective on May 23, 2013 and modified certain provisions of the COOL regulations after the World Trade Organization (WTO) found that aspects of the regulations violated U.S. trade obligations. The final rule requires labels on certain cuts of meat, to provide information on where it was born, raised, and slaughtered.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit recently heard oral arguments on a case involving the COOL rule, Meat Institute, et al. v. U.S. Department of Agriculture. Recent posts from this blog on the case are available hereand here.
Supporters of COOL say consumes have a right to know where their meat comes from. Opponents, however, say the law imposes unnecessary costs on the industry and may violate World Trade Organization (WTO) rules.
Kenny Graner, a North Dakota beef producer and president of the Independent Beef Association of North Dakota, supports COOL, saying, “We’re proud of the product that we raise, and we shouldn’t disguise it.” The National Farmers Union (NFU), the U.S. Cattlemen’s Association and the Consumer Federation of America also support COOL.
Other organizations including the American Meat Institute, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), the National Chicken Council (NCCP), the National Pork Producers Council, the National Turkey Federation, and the North American Meat Association oppose the rule, according to a Food Safety News article here.
“COOL is a broken program that has only added costs to our industries without any measureable benefit for America’s livestock producers,” the opposing organizations write in a recent letter to farm bill conferees.
In a news conference on Tuesday, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas (R-OK) and Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) explained that in discussing the call to repeal COOL during the conference, “the votes were not there in either body.”
The National Agricultural Law Center offer many valuable resources on COOL, here. A helpful webinar, “COOL or Not so COOL: An Overview and Discussion of Country of Origin Labeling” is available here.
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