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Farm Bill/M-COOL to move Forward

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Anonymous

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Farm bill moves to Senate Ag committee next week

By Janie Gabbett on 10/18/2007 for Meatingplace.com




Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) announced key committee members have agreed on a framework for the Senate version of the farm bill, enabling the legislation to go to committee for consideration as early as next week.

Harkin said in a statement the committee hopes to mark up the bill this month.

Majority Communications Director Kate Cyrul told Meatingplace.com that while agreement has been reached on budget numbers for each title, details of each provision of the bill are still being worked out.

Country of Origin language is expected to be similar to that passed by the House of Representatives earlier this year. (See House Ag panel approves COOL on Meatingplace.com, July 20, 2007.)

"On country-of-origin labeling, we'll probably do basically similar to what the House language is. I want to make it very clear, country-of-origin labeling will go into effect next year," Harkin said during a recent teleconference with reporters.

Senate language regarding a House bill provision that would allow some state-inspected meat to cross state lines was also not clear, though Cyrul noted Harkin has previously expressed doubts about its inclusion. (See House farm bill provision on meat inspection a sticking point in Senate on Meatingplace.com, October 4, 2007.)
 

PORKER

Well-known member
Latest from Senate Ag floor during Markup;Stronger Mandatory COOL Language
October 24,Senator Thune requested that the House-passed COOL language be strengthened to clarify that all categories of red meat are required to be labeled. At Senator Thune's request, the Agriculture Committee's bill includes minor changes to the House-passed COOL provisions that will make implementing mandatory COOL clear, concise, and beyond legal challenge.
 

PORKER

Well-known member
Senators hope for compromise language on COOL law

By Kristin Danley-Greiner, Farm News staff writer



Iowa’s Sen. Chuck Grassley, along with 30 Senate colleagues, are hoping that Iowa’s Sen. Tom Harkin will push through compromise language on country of origin labeling (COOL) in the farm bill Harkin will be taking before the U.S. agriculture committee today.

Grassley has pushed for COOL language since Congress first passed the legislation five years ago. He said that “it’s time for congressional intervention to ensure the long-awaited implementation of mandatory COOL.”

“It seems unrealistic to revert to the language in the 2002 farm bill, which Sen. Grassley agreed with, so the House compromise language appears to be the best bet,” said Beth Pellett Levine, communications director for Grassley’s office.

The compromise language establishes three labeling options for meat. First, it would also allow ground meat to be labeled with a narrative list of counties. But, it doesn’t require percentages. Finally, it would provide verification of origin through existing documentation, like animal health papers, import customs documents, normal business records, or producer affidavits.

“On country-of-origin labeling, we’ll probably do basically similar to what the House language is. I want to make it very clear, country-of-origin labeling will go into effect next year,” Harkin said during his recent teleconference call with reports.

Kate Cyrul, Majority communications director, said that Harkin’s staff is “still evaluating the House proposal and its implications.” Grassley has sent several letters to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and congressional appropriators to push for COOL being implemented in the way in which Congress intended, Pellett Levine said. However, since the farm bill was passed in 2002, the USDA was slow to release the rules and appropriators ended up not funding the program, so it wasn’t implemented.

“At this point, Sen. Grassley believes the language reached in the House of Representatives represents a good compromise that everyone, proponents and opponents alike, can agree on,” she said.

John Gilbert, a farmer from near Iowa Falls, serves on the Iowa Farmers’ Union board of directors and said that it is a “real crime that we’ve gone almost five years without the legally mandated information about where our food originates.”

“Fully implementing COOL will help consumers make wise food choices, particularly in light of the possibility of adulterated products being imported from China,” Gilbert said. “Buying local-or at least American-foods is one small thing consumers can do to increase the security of our food supply and to minimize our impact on global warming by cutting down on transportation of our food. We can’t make informed choices if we are kept in the dark. The popularity of identity preserved foods shows Americans are increasingly concerned about what they eat. Anything that can be done to quickly implement COOL is long overdue, but welcome.”

R-CALF USA COOL committee chair Mike Schultz said that “we know the packers and processors will still try to kill COOL, but let me remind them that COOL is no more burdensome than what they already do by specifying ownership of the cattle on the checks they write.”

“Just this week, Philip H. Kimball, executive director of the North American Meat Processors, stated in an article that COOL is ‘not appropriate,’” Schultz said in a statement. “What Kimball really means is that COOL won’t be as profitable as keeping consumers in the dark about where their beef comes from. With all the recent food safety scares here in the U.S., it’s just common sense to give consumers the information they have the right to know.”
 

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