Coalition Urges USDA to Adopt COOL Rules
A coalition of more than 200 farm, consumer and environmental organizations
has written a letter urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to
support recently proposed changes to U.S. Country of Origin Labeling (COOL)
requirements for meat products.
USDA proposed new labeling rules in March 2013 in response to a World
Trade Organization (WTO) ruling that the old labels discriminated against
imported livestock from other countries. The proposed rules would require
that that all meat from animals born, raised and processed in the United
States bear a “born, raised and slaughtered in the USA” label.
“The only acceptable way to respond to the WTO challenge is to make labels
more informative for consumers, not water them down,” states the letter. “U.S.
farmers and ranchers are proud of what they produce and should be allowed
to promote their products.”
“Consumers want more information about the source of their food, not less,” said Chris Waldrop, director of the Food Policy Institute at Consumer Federation of America in a news release. “Strengthening the Country of Origin Label provides consumers with more accurate and precise information about the source of beef and pork products they purchase.” Additional details about the COOL requirements appear in Issue 475 of the Update. See Consumer Federation of America News Release, April 2, 2013.
