The purpose of country-of-origin labeling (COOL) is to inform consumers about the origins of their food and to help U.S. producers in promoting their products.
COOL will also allow consumers to protect themselves from disease outbreaks, bio-terrorism, and other potential health hazards even if the government still allows imports.
In a Lou Dobbs poll, 98% said that the U.S. government should speed up the process of implementing COOL. Recent polls also found that 80 to 85% of consumers support mandatory labeling for meat, seafood, and produce.
COOL will help U.S. farmers, ranchers, and small to mid-sized food manufacturers by allowing them enhanced competition through product differentiation. Consumers' endorsement of COOL implementation implies that they prefer buying domestic goods. Labeling will increase demand for domestic products.
To be labeled as a U.S. product, the commodity must be born, raised (hatched) and processed in the U.S. Mixed products will be labeled with all their countries-of-origin.
COOL is not a new concept. Most imports (clothes, etc.) are labeled with their country of origin. Also, most of
Montana has passed mandatory COOL (with an additional "Made in Montana" label), but it will not be implemented until September 2006.
On April 4, 2005, mandatory COOL was implemented for seafood. The seafood markets are still continuing business normally and are showing no signs of being negatively affected by COOL legislation. In fact, the costs have been far less than those projected before implementation.
COOL will also allow consumers to protect themselves from disease outbreaks, bio-terrorism, and other potential health hazards even if the government still allows imports.
In a Lou Dobbs poll, 98% said that the U.S. government should speed up the process of implementing COOL. Recent polls also found that 80 to 85% of consumers support mandatory labeling for meat, seafood, and produce.
COOL will help U.S. farmers, ranchers, and small to mid-sized food manufacturers by allowing them enhanced competition through product differentiation. Consumers' endorsement of COOL implementation implies that they prefer buying domestic goods. Labeling will increase demand for domestic products.
To be labeled as a U.S. product, the commodity must be born, raised (hatched) and processed in the U.S. Mixed products will be labeled with all their countries-of-origin.
COOL is not a new concept. Most imports (clothes, etc.) are labeled with their country of origin. Also, most of
COOL was passed in the 2002 Farm Bill and initially scheduled for implementation in September 2004 (it has since been repeatedly postponed by Congress). Since then the debate has been over whether to implement it as mandatory or voluntary. However, voluntary COOL has been available for several years and has had very low participation rates. Mandatory COOL is the only logical way to implement the program.the United States's major trading partners require COOL labeling of agricultural products.
Montana has passed mandatory COOL (with an additional "Made in Montana" label), but it will not be implemented until September 2006.
On April 4, 2005, mandatory COOL was implemented for seafood. The seafood markets are still continuing business normally and are showing no signs of being negatively affected by COOL legislation. In fact, the costs have been far less than those projected before implementation.