Advocacy Groups Press COOL Retention in Farm Bill
House and Senate Farm Bill conferees should retain country of origin labeling in a final Farm Bill conference report in order to ensure Americans are provided clear information regarding meat sources, said a group of nearly 100 advocacy organizations in a Jan. 22 letter to the conferees. The current COOL law is in line with World Trade Organization rulings, said the agricultural and labor associations, among other advocates. Moreover, the conferees should resist a proposal purportedly floated in mid-January that would retain the law but scale back the information requirements, said the letter.
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“The proposal floated the week of January 13th would replace the production-step labeling that delineates where an animal was born, raised and slaughtered with either a ‘product of USA’ or ‘product of North America’ label,” said the letter. “This labeling scheme fails to remedy the critique of the WTO dispute panels because it would perpetuate consumer deception, as the United States is part of North America, and would still require meatpackers to keep all-American born and raised livestock separate from livestock born and/or raised in Canada or Mexico.” House conferees Frank Lucas, R-Okla., and Collin Peterson, D-Minn., continue to hammer out details of the report with Senate conferees Thad Cochran, R-Miss., and Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.
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