D.C. Circuit Allows COOL Implementation to Move Forward
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled against meat industry trade groups that challenged Agriculture Department’s country of origin labeling (COOL) regulations. Senior Circuit Judge Stephen Williams issued the opinion for the court, which reviewed the case en banc. The July 29 ruling denies the American Meat Institute's request for a preliminary injunction that would have stopped implementation of the rule.
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The Appeals Court found that the agency's requirements for meat production disclosures meet the legal standard that the information required to be disclosed is factual and uncontroversial, said Williams. The American Meat Institute and other meat industry groups had argued the Agricultural Marketing Service overstepped its authority with production-step labeling and a purported ban on commingling, and violated meat companies First Amendment rights. AMS’ COOL final rule, issued in May 2013 (see 13052317), is also the subject of a World Trade Organization dispute with Mexico and Canada in which Canada has threatened to impose retaliatory tariffs (see 13061022). The court agree to review the case en banc in April (see 14040424).
The American Meat Institute said the decision was disappointing. "We have maintained all along that the country of origin rule harms livestock producers and the industry and affords little benefit to consumers," said AMI Interim President James Hodges in an emailed statement. "This decision will perpetuate those harms. We will evaluate our options moving forward.” Food and Water Watch, a consumer group, celebrated the decision. “Today’s COOL ruling is an important victory for consumers and farmers," the group said (here). "Consumers and farmers have fought for decades to get sensible and informative Country of Origin labels into supermarkets to help families make more informed choices about their food. The Court recognized that these consumer choices are longstanding and that ‘Country-of-origin information has an historical pedigree that lifts it well above ‘idle curiosity.’"
(American Meat Institute v. U.S. Department of Agriculture, D.C. Cir. 13-5281, dated 07/29/14)