OldDog/NewTricks
Well-known member
Legal/Regulatory News
House passes Farm Bill, COOL provisions seen as positive
By Janie Gabbett on 7/30/2007 for Meatingplace.com
The U.S. House of Representatives Friday passed a version of the 2007 Farm Bill the White House has threatened to veto, but many meat industry groups say a mandatory country-of-origin labeling provision included in the legislation is moving in the right direction.
The 231-191 vote was largely along party lines and without the support needed to override a veto, though the bill has a long way to go. The Senate is expected to start on its version of the legislation in September.
The National Cattlemen's Beef Association gave the bill a mixed review overall, but called the modest fixes to COOL an improvement over the 2002 COOL provisions, which were never implemented and are set to expire September 30. NCBA said the House version alleviates most of the record-keeping burden for cattle producers and addresses the dilemma of labeling ground beef by allowing language that indicates whether it is from it from mixed or multiple origins.
"The fixes in the Farm Bill certainly don't repair all of the problems in the COOL law, but we've come a long way toward making it more workable for our cattlemen," NCBA's Executive Director of Legislative Affairs Colin Woodall Woodall said in a statement.
The National Pork Producers Council said the House bill would help pork producers remain competitive in the global marketplace and cheered what it called, "much-needed fixes" to COOL provisions.
Last week both Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns and American Meat Institute President and CEO J. Patrick Boyle said the House COOL provisions were moving in the right direction.
The House COOL provisions create three categories of labeling: one that indicates product was born, raised and slaughtered in the United States; one that indicates product was not exclusively born, raised and slaughtered in the U.S.; and one that includes products entirely derived from foreign countries. Ground meat product can be labeled with a list of countries where product may have originated.
House passes Farm Bill, COOL provisions seen as positive
By Janie Gabbett on 7/30/2007 for Meatingplace.com
The U.S. House of Representatives Friday passed a version of the 2007 Farm Bill the White House has threatened to veto, but many meat industry groups say a mandatory country-of-origin labeling provision included in the legislation is moving in the right direction.
The 231-191 vote was largely along party lines and without the support needed to override a veto, though the bill has a long way to go. The Senate is expected to start on its version of the legislation in September.
The National Cattlemen's Beef Association gave the bill a mixed review overall, but called the modest fixes to COOL an improvement over the 2002 COOL provisions, which were never implemented and are set to expire September 30. NCBA said the House version alleviates most of the record-keeping burden for cattle producers and addresses the dilemma of labeling ground beef by allowing language that indicates whether it is from it from mixed or multiple origins.
"The fixes in the Farm Bill certainly don't repair all of the problems in the COOL law, but we've come a long way toward making it more workable for our cattlemen," NCBA's Executive Director of Legislative Affairs Colin Woodall Woodall said in a statement.
The National Pork Producers Council said the House bill would help pork producers remain competitive in the global marketplace and cheered what it called, "much-needed fixes" to COOL provisions.
Last week both Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns and American Meat Institute President and CEO J. Patrick Boyle said the House COOL provisions were moving in the right direction.
The House COOL provisions create three categories of labeling: one that indicates product was born, raised and slaughtered in the United States; one that indicates product was not exclusively born, raised and slaughtered in the U.S.; and one that includes products entirely derived from foreign countries. Ground meat product can be labeled with a list of countries where product may have originated.
