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Ranchers.net

Jump Starting COOL


by Steve Cornett

If you support mandatory Country of Origin Labeling (COOL), the Cattlemen's Competitive Market Project (CCMP) wants to hear from you. They'd like you to contribute money or perhaps put a sign on your place. The message: "Not just any beef. USA-raised beef. Ask for it." CCMP is a joint effort of several cattle-oriented organizations that launched a publicity campaign in June aimed at getting consumers to put more pressure on beef marketers to deliver beef grown in the USA.



Chance Carter, executive director of the Organization for Competitive Markets, said the program is intended to give producers a vehicle for expressing their support for mandatory COOL and to jump start the process, which has floundered in Congress. Carter says the program may someday include a labeling program marketers can use.



A focal point of the program will be to correct misconceptions among consumers that the USDA grade stamp implies U.S. origin for beef. "Most people, even most producers," Carter says, "think that stamp means the beef comes from the USA." COOL supporters believe that is why there is not more consumer pressure for labeling.



For more information, call (817) 789-3009, or visit www.competitivemarkets.com.
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