COOL — Page 4

Survey: U.S. Consumers Support COOL

May 17, 2013 By Ron Sylvester Leave a Comment

From the Consumer Federation of America earlier this week:

Survey results, released today by the Consumer Federation of America, show that a large majority of Americans continue to strongly support mandatory country of origin labeling for fresh meat and strongly favor requiring meat to be labeled with even more specific information about where the animals were born, raised and processed.

National Farmers Union President Roger Johnson was quick to tout the survey findings.

“The survey results are a further indication of what we have known for some time: Consumers overwhelmingly want to know more about the origins of their food, and farmers and ranchers want to provide this information,” said Johnson.” These findings, coupled with the recent withdrawal of two short-sighted amendments to the Senate and House’s respective farm bills that would have negatively impacted Country-of-Origin Labeling, are promising indications that country-of-origin labeling is vitally important and here to stay.”

CFA’s survey also found that 87 percent of respondents favor USDA requiring labels on meat which state in which country or countries the animal was born, raised and processed. In some cases, animals processed for consumer food products may actually be born in one country and raised and/or processed in different nations.

Mandatory Country-of-Origin Labeling, also known as COOL, was passed as a part of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 and amended in the 2008 Farm Bill, going into effect in 2008, with regulations being put forward in 2009.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) recently required the U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA) to adjust its rules requiring American retailers to label certain foods with the country (or countries) in which the animals are born, raised, or slaughtered. The WTO said that while the United States can require meat labeling, current U.S. COOL rules do not meet WTO standards. The WTO has given the United States until May 23, 2013, to bring its COOL rules into compliance.

On March 8, USDA submitted a proposed amended rule on COOL compliance to bring the U.S. into compliance with WTO. You can follow the process and view comments which were submitted on the proposed rule here.

The telephone survey was undertaken by ORC International May 9 – 12 , 2013, using a split sample of landlines and cell phones. The margin of error is plus or minus three percentage points. The survey results are available here and the survey methodology is available here .

National Farmers Union sends positive comments to feds on COOL

April 1, 2013 By Ron Sylvester Leave a Comment

Then National Farmers Union today submitted positive comments to the USDA on proposed changes to the Country of Origin Labeling rule or “COOL.”

COOL mandates that certain foods must be labeled at the retailer with their country of origin. Originally passed as part of the 2007 Farm Bill, COOL was initiated by rule in 2009. Canada and Mexico successfully attacked the first version of COOL as promoting unfair trade practices before the World Trade Organization. The Obama Administration chose to deal with the ruling by not totally abandoning COOL, but by rewriting the rule.

Fighting against COOL are agribusiness giants like Tyson Foods and Cargill who routinely mix animals or animal products from other countries into products such as ground beef. Proponents of the rule argue that U.S. consumers deserve to know where their food is coming from and that U.S. raised and processed food will benefit from consumer awareness.

[Read more…]

Comments being accepted until April 11 on proposed COOL rule

March 12, 2013 By Ron Sylvester Leave a Comment

The National Farmers Union reported earlier this month that the Obama Administration’s Office of Management and Budget has released the proposed new rule on Country of Origin Labeling, or COOL.

COOL came under fire from a recent World Trade Organization ruling and the administration has been working toward re-tooling the policy to meet U.S. trade treaty criteria.

“The proposed rule changes released by OMB are an excellent response to decisions by the World Trade Organization that called for changes to our COOL implementation,” said NFU President Roger Johnson. “By requiring further clarity in labels and stronger recordkeeping, the set of rules released today are a win-win for farmers, ranchers and consumers.”

[Read more…]

Montana’s Tester Leading Bipartisan Group Fighting for COOL

February 7, 2013 By Ron Sylvester Leave a Comment

U.S. Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT)

Senators Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), and Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) are leading a bipartisan coalition of Senators in calling on the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Trade Representative to work with consumers, ranchers and meatpackers to make sure that American families know where their meat comes from.

The National Farmers Union is commending the group for fighting for consumers’ right to know and American farmers.

“We thank Senator Tester for his work in garnering support in the Senate in regards to COOL compliance,” said NFU President Roger Johnson. “Consumers have a right to know where their food comes from and U.S. farmers and ranchers want to be able to tell them.”

The World Trade Organization (WTO) recently required the USDA to adjust its rules requiring American retailers to clearly label where meat was raised and processed. The WTO said that while the United States can require meat labeling, current U.S. Country-of-Origin labeling (COOL) rules do not meet WTO standards. The WTO has given the United States until May 23, 2013, to bring its COOL rules into compliance.

“USDA and USTR should take even stronger regulatory actions to make sure that COOL provides meaningful information about the origins of meat and other products,” said Johnson.

“Congress intended that COOL provide as much information as possible about the origin of all meat cuts to consumers,” the senators wrote to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk. “Some flexibility is needed, but such flexibility cannot come at the expense of providing reliable information to families about the national origin of meat products.”

The bipartisan coalition also said that USDA should host a public comment period to allow agriculture workers and consumers to weigh in on any new proposals.

NFU working on preserving effective Country of Origin Labeling in wake of WTO Ruling

December 5, 2012 By Ron Sylvester Leave a Comment

from The National Farmers Union

WASHINGTON – The World Trade Organization has given the United States until May 23, 2013, to bring its Country-of-Origin Labeling (COOL) rules into compliance with a WTO ruling.

“NFU will continue to work with United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Office of the United States Trade Representative to ensure that new rules for COOL fit with the WTO’s ruling and with consumer demand for more information about the origins of their food,” said National Farmers Union (NFU) President Roger Johnson.

The labeling law was passed as a part of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 and amended in 2008, requiring retailers to notify their customers of the source of certain foods. After COOL was implemented, Canada and Mexico filed a complaint against the United States’ law. A WTO ruling in June agreed in part with the complaint, stating that the way by which the law was implemented discriminated against imported meat products, but did not find fault with the law itself.

“NFU has a proud record of supporting COOL. We were instrumental in getting the COOL laws passed in 2002 and again in 2008 and will continue to support its implementation in a way that meets the requirements of the WTO.”

According to the USDA Economic Research Service, food imports have consistently increased since 1990.

“Consumers want and have the right to know from where their meat comes from. We will continue to vigorously defend the COOL law, which was upheld in June. Only the rules that were issued to implement COOL law are in question and can be adjusted.”

NFU not interested in changes to Country of Origin Labeling (COOL)

January 31, 2012 By Ron Sylvester Leave a Comment

WASHINGTON (Jan. 27, 2012) – National Farmers Union (NFU) President Roger Johnson issued the following statement today to urging U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Ron Kirk to pursue a robust appeals process on the recent decision of the World Trade Organization (WTO) that ruled against the United States’ implementation of the country-of-origin-labeling (COOL) law:

“NFU has a proud record of supporting COOL. We were instrumental in getting the COOL laws passed in 2002 and again in 2008.

“We will oppose any attempt to change that law. Fortunately, the WTO decision against U.S. country-of-origin-labeling did not find fault with our law. It simply found fault with the rules and regulations which were used to implement the law.

“As the office of the USTR contemplates its approach to the WTO decision, we urge them to mount a robust and vigorous defense of COOL.

“We are aware that behind the scenes attempts at negotiating a settlement to the WTO decision have some stakeholders arguing that we must weaken our law. We strongly disagree and urge a fervent defense.

“Consumers have a right to know where their meat comes from – and they overwhelmingly want to know just that.”

The labeling law was passed as a part of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 and amended in 2008. COOL requires retailers to notify their customers of the source of certain foods. Canada and Mexico filed a complaint against the United States’ law, which led to the recent ruling. The deadline for filing an appeal to the WTO decision is March 23, 2012.

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