Friday, January 16, 2009
Food Safety
America’s family farmers and ranchers produce the safest, most-abundant food supply in the world. National Farmers Union believes it is imperative that we maintain the high quality of our food supply by ensuring high standards for production, processing and transportation.
NFU supports mandatory country-of-origin labeling (COOL) for agricultural products. COOL is a valuable marketing tool for producers and it allows consumers to know where their food is produced. Producers have the right to know where their food comes from.
To adequately address animal health outbreaks and potential bioterrorism attacks, the USDA has taken steps to implement a national animal identification system (NAIS). However, many of the program’s components need to be addressed. NFU believes information gathered in a database be controlled by the federal government, producers should be protected in the case of a recall, and a clear definition of who can use producer data and for what reasons. 
