National Farmers Union

WASHINGTON (Jan. 12, 2009) – The U.S. Department of Agriculture today released the department’s final rule for mandatory country of origin labeling (COOL). National Farmers Union has been a long-time proponent of the labeling law and NFU President Tom Buis expressed disappointment at today’s action.

“Despite the strong support from Congress, and demands from consumers and producers alike, USDA has chosen to implement COOL in a manner that does not meet Congress’ clear intent, leaving loopholes in place for those willing to circumvent the law.

“The final rule still contains a loophole that would allow meat packers to use a multiple countries, or NAFTA label, rather than labeling U.S. products as products of the United States. This is misleading to consumers. The intent was to provide country of origin labeling, not trade agreement origin of labeling. If a product is exclusively born, raised and processed in the United States it should be labeled as such.

“USDA takes great liberty with the definition of ‘processed products,’ effectively leaving several food products without labels and denying consumers the knowledge of their food’s country of origin.

“The department recognizes acceptance of producer affidavits to verify compliance, which I am pleased to see.

“COOL was effective Sept. 30, 2008 and NFU had urged the department to withhold final judgment until COOL’s six month trial period had concluded. We will continue to monitor the implementation of COOL and if not implemented properly will not hesitate to go to Congress for changes until COOL is implemented in the best interest of consumers, farmers and ranchers.

“COOL is a vital marketing tool and it is imperative it be implemented properly.”

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This entry was posted on Monday, January 12th, 2009 at 3:22 pm and is filed under Agriculture Programs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.