"M" COOL enforcement

[PORKER]

A spokesman for Bart Stupak, D-Mich. -- who has held nine food safety hearings this Congress as chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee -- said it seems there are sizeable gaps in the labeling of processed food in the proposed rule.... COOL LAW

"Finding a way to exempt as many foods as possible is not what Congress had in mind,"

The proposed rule for country of origin labeling COOL is meeting resistance from food safety advocates in Congress as the Sept. 30 deadline for implementation approaches.

The Agriculture Department's interim final rule, issued July 28, does not meet the requirements in the 2008 farm law, said one of the House's primary food safety watchdogs, Agriculture Appropriations Chairman Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn.

The law is being altered on which specific foods would be covered by COOL , that was in the original bill passed by the congress in the 2008 Farm Bill mandate. Senate Agriculture Committee aides said they take issue with the department overextending exceptions for food service establishments and processed foods.
Could this be the way that they intend to kill the COOL law internally ????

I think So !

 

[PORKER]

Latest news from COOL headquarters in Washington relayed by ScoringAg;

Slaughter facilities will be responsible for initiating country of origin claims on covered meat products.

Suppliers to those slaughter facilities will need to meet the specific documentation requirements that slaughter facilities establish.

Slaughter facilities will need to meet the specific documentation requirements that retail facilities establish. Both entities will need to create record storage systems for the required time of covered COOL commodities.

On October 1st, the cattle industry reaches a milestone. The implementation of COOL is expected, and all producers will be affected.

 

[PORKER]

Letter to Congress;

There was a traceback provision in COOL but lobbyist had USDA AMS remove it in the interm final rule for Country of Origin Labeling. Second there was the FDA agreed with many of the findings of the GAO report and began addressing them before it was published. Dr.Acheson said in a written statement Friday that at least two of the GAO's recommendations, including giving the agency enhanced access to food records during emergencies, are included in the FDA's 10-month-old Food Protection Plan. The strategy to protect food from intentional and unintentional contamination also involves more closely working with states' departments of food and agriculture.
The COOL law had the traceback provision in it from retail back to the farm, but grocery and packer orgs protested. The COOL law is a Traceback Law . On page 45108 of the Federal Register vol 73 No.149 it states that products must contain sufficient supplier information to allow USDA to traceback the product to the supplier initiating the claim. Its Food Safety and Country of Origin together. This was removed, yes the chain of custody of the COOL covered products was removed. The labeling of origin is all that is left.
The Chain of Custody requirement was removed. In the first COOL rule USDA required that retailers keep records regarding the "chain of custody" for all covered commodities. Thats exactly what is needed for USDA and FDA for Fast easy traceback of products for a recall.

According to the GAO's study, the countries reported that three elements of their food-safety systems were critical to helping them respond to outbreaks of foodborne illness:
1.Traceback procedures that allow industry and government officials to quickly track food products to minimize harm to consumers and the impact on business. ( Its was part of the US. COOL law )
2.Cooperative arrangements between government veterinarians and public health officials to document the names of suppliers and customers as well as the date of delivery. ( Its was part of the US. COOL law )
Mandatory authority to recall a product from the market. ( How can you recall anything without verifiable chain of custody.

My idea is that this whole affidavit will go down in flames when the first retailer asks for a animal ID matching a affidavit from a packer. The packer will have to figure out which ID or no ID it was trying to pass off as US verified born ,raised, meat.

 

[PORKER]

In the COOL rules; Who can cause a audit at a grocery within 5 days ?



Any State or Federal regulatory enforcement personal

The law encourages the Secretary to enter into partnerships with States to

the extent practicable to assist in the administration of this program. As such,

USDA has entered into partnerships with States that have enforcement

infrastructure to conduct retail compliance reviews.



Only USDA will be able to initiate enforcement actions against a person

found to be in violation of the law.USDA may also conduct investigations

of complaints made by any person alleging violations of these regulations when the Secretary determines that reasonable grounds for such investigation exist.

AMS USDA says we going to enforce this law. We have an official partnership established between USDA and the state departments of agriculture to assist with COOL retail surveillance responsibilities. Last year we looked at approximately 1,600 retail store reviews, and 540 of those audits showed violations of Country of Origin Labeling requirements. And within the 540 audits where violations occurred, there were 1,100 violations cited, which is an average of two violations per audit conducted.

 

[PORKER]

Retailers' rejections send message on COOL

By Tom Karst

(Oct. 17, 3:07 p.m.) When the country-of-origin labeling law for fresh produce and other foods including meats went into effect Sept. 30, the U.S. Department of Agriculture allowed for a six-month phase-in before enforcing compliance.

Some retailers, however, aren't waiting that long.

"Once you start rejecting product, they get the message real quick," said Alan Siger, president of Consumers Produce Co. Inc., Pittsburgh.

He said some chain stores in the Pittsburgh region — he did not identify them — are demanding immediate COOL compliance from suppliers.

"Our customers in this area — the vast majority— are ready to go and have told their suppliers, 'We expect you to go before Sept. 30,'" Siger said. "We've actually had product sent to us from shippers where (the load) was turned down by the chains."

Occassional misses

Siger said his company has been asked to put stickers on cases or Price Look-Up stickers before sending them back to the store.

He predicts other retailers will become more stringent before the six-month phase-in expires.

Caren Epstein, director of corporate communications for Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Bentonville, Ark., said in an e-mail Oct.13 that it was too early to tell how well suppliers are following COOL requirements.

"For the most part, it's been good, but there have been occasional misses," she said, noting the chain is still working through some issues with suppliers.

Epstein said Wal-Mart stores have been instructed to reject produce that isn't labeled correctly, but she could not confirm if they have.

Different viewpoints

"The phones continue to ring a lot on country-of-origin labeling, and everyone is eager to get it done right," said Kathy Means, vice president of government relations for the Newark, Del.-based Produce Marketing Association.

She said some suppliers have sought to understand why the USDA regulation and buyer expectations seem to be different.

"There is what the regulation says, and then what buyers and sellers decide to do own their own is up to them," she said.

For example, the regulation says suppliers can include produce origin information on the product itself, on the box or on documents accompanying the product. Some buyers, however, stipulate the information should be on all three, Means said.

Means said a PMA/Western Growers country-of-origin best practices document provides a template for compliance.

COOL challenges

Produce suppliers are generally doing pretty well in terms of complying with country-of-origin labeling, said Mike O'Brien, vice president of produce for Schnuck Markets Inc. St. Louis.

"We're still working on getting country-of-origin (info) on bills of lading, so we can have a record to compare if we are audited in our warehouse, and that's coming along," he said.

O'Brien said Schnuck is allowing a grace period for suppliers to use to deplete their packaging inventory.

"I don't want to make it difficult on the supply side. We've got six months to get there," he said.

O'Brien said Schnuck's has already used a Web seminar to inform store-level personnel. His biggest concern is bulk displays that have items from more than one country.

Some of the problematic commodities include zucchini, roma tomatoes, yellow squash and green peppers. For example, zucchini could be from the U.S. one day and Mexico the next day, he said.

Though COOL regulations allow for signs to account for more than one country for bulk displays, O'Brien said he would prefer not to list more than one country on a sign.

( SOUNDS LIKE THE MEAT LABELING Feiasco )