Food Industry Presses Politicians to Support Meat-Label Repeal

Several major food companies have sent a letter to four U.S. senators and
representatives urging Congress to direct Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack
to suspend revised country-of-origin labeling (COOL) rules on muscle cuts
of meat because they discriminate against Canada and Mexico. The letter
argues that if the WTO determines that the rule violates U.S. trade obligations,
it could authorize retaliation from Mexico and Canada, which “has already
issued a preliminary retaliation list targeting a broad spectrum of commodities
and manufactured products that will affect every state in the country.”
The new rules dictate that meat producers must disclose where their livestock
was born, raised and slaughtered and can no longer commingle livestock
from differing origins to ensure COOL accuracy. The food company coalition
has also challenged the new U.S. Department of Agriculture rules in federal
court, and the case is pending after an en banc rehearing in the D.C. Circuit.
Additional information about the case appears in Issues 518 and 520 of this
Update.

Issue 529