Sandhusker
Well-known member
What’s the Matter with M-COOL?
Billings, Mont. – Country-of-origin labeling (COOL) for meat has become the law of the land, and you’d think a pig had been stuck with a knife considering all the squealing coming from the multinational beef packing industry and its trade associations.
The U.S. was the last country in the Western Hemisphere without some form of COOL for meat. COOL never would’ve come to pass here unless consumer groups had joined the fight. A few thousand independent cattlemen were no match for the millions of dollars raised by those opposed to COOL, mainly the beef packing industry and grocery store groups. Once millions of consumers became incensed about melamine in their dog and cat food, COOL became a reality.
Well, it wasn’t quite that simple, but almost.
The mandatory COOL law was written to accommodate trade with our neighbors. “Born and Raised in Canada, Slaughtered in U.S.,” or “Born in Mexico, Slaughtered in U.S.,” are legal, proper labels. Initially, the packing industry simply labeled all meat products “Product of the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.”
A simple ‘North American’ label, but it misleads consumers when it is applied to beef that is exclusively of U.S. origin and does not provide consumers with their right to exercise choice in the marketplace.
Wendy’s restaurants proudly advertise their hamburgers are made from North American beef. The North American label is a mixed label and is not what Congress intended for beef produced from cattle born, raised and slaughtered in the United States of America.
Packers like Tyson Foods labeled their beef with a mixed North American label. Yet, once forced to actually label red meat properly, several packers placed the origin label in such small letters it takes reading glasses to actually read it, if you can even find it.
Until meatpackers begin to properly distinguish beef from U.S. cattle from the beef from Canadian or Mexican cattle with a conspicuous and legible label, the marketplace will not function properly and the benefits of COOL cannot materialize. If COOL was implemented as the law is written and if USDA would enforce the rules as Congress intended, consumers would be able to exercise choice in the marketplace, and the demand created by their choices would determine the relative value of cattle from the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Unfortunately, these relative values for domestic and imported cattle are being arbitrarily decided by the multinational packers that are politically motivated to destroy COOL.
These packers are now making it difficult for Canadian and Mexican cattle to receive the mixed label (cattle imported from Canada and slaughtered in the U.S. are eligible for a mixed label that states “Product of Canada and U.S.”). This has prompted Canada and Mexico to file a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO). U.S. cattlemen who feed Mexican steers are being discounted by the packers, if the packers even choose to buy them. This is going on even though the beef from those cattle is eligible for a mixed-origin label that includes both the U.S. and Mexico.
While all this is happening, USDA does nothing – by design, I think. USDA did not support COOL, and I believe, is setting up COOL for a complete failure. If this occurs, beef will be generic in the U.S., and the U.S. consumer will have no idea where their beef originated in the world and no choice as to which country’s beef they choose to cook for their family’s dinner.
The long-range goal of the huge multinational food corporations is to acquire food anywhere in the world where it can be produced for the least cost, where cheap land and cheap labor can be exploited. We have seen in this country what “too big to fail” has wrought in the financial industries. Do we really desire to turn over food production to multinational corporations?
There basically is only one industry left in Rural America sufficiently dispersed to provide nearly every rural community with the opportunity to generate new economic activity. That industry, the independent U.S. cow/calf sector, produces a new set of wealth each spring. If this sector fails, grocery stores will be full of food from around the world, and the average American will have no choice as to which country’s beef her family consumes.
It will be generic beef.
I give us about 10 years, unless we fight for COOL, and win
Billings, Mont. – Country-of-origin labeling (COOL) for meat has become the law of the land, and you’d think a pig had been stuck with a knife considering all the squealing coming from the multinational beef packing industry and its trade associations.
The U.S. was the last country in the Western Hemisphere without some form of COOL for meat. COOL never would’ve come to pass here unless consumer groups had joined the fight. A few thousand independent cattlemen were no match for the millions of dollars raised by those opposed to COOL, mainly the beef packing industry and grocery store groups. Once millions of consumers became incensed about melamine in their dog and cat food, COOL became a reality.
Well, it wasn’t quite that simple, but almost.
The mandatory COOL law was written to accommodate trade with our neighbors. “Born and Raised in Canada, Slaughtered in U.S.,” or “Born in Mexico, Slaughtered in U.S.,” are legal, proper labels. Initially, the packing industry simply labeled all meat products “Product of the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.”
A simple ‘North American’ label, but it misleads consumers when it is applied to beef that is exclusively of U.S. origin and does not provide consumers with their right to exercise choice in the marketplace.
Wendy’s restaurants proudly advertise their hamburgers are made from North American beef. The North American label is a mixed label and is not what Congress intended for beef produced from cattle born, raised and slaughtered in the United States of America.
Packers like Tyson Foods labeled their beef with a mixed North American label. Yet, once forced to actually label red meat properly, several packers placed the origin label in such small letters it takes reading glasses to actually read it, if you can even find it.
Until meatpackers begin to properly distinguish beef from U.S. cattle from the beef from Canadian or Mexican cattle with a conspicuous and legible label, the marketplace will not function properly and the benefits of COOL cannot materialize. If COOL was implemented as the law is written and if USDA would enforce the rules as Congress intended, consumers would be able to exercise choice in the marketplace, and the demand created by their choices would determine the relative value of cattle from the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Unfortunately, these relative values for domestic and imported cattle are being arbitrarily decided by the multinational packers that are politically motivated to destroy COOL.
These packers are now making it difficult for Canadian and Mexican cattle to receive the mixed label (cattle imported from Canada and slaughtered in the U.S. are eligible for a mixed label that states “Product of Canada and U.S.”). This has prompted Canada and Mexico to file a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO). U.S. cattlemen who feed Mexican steers are being discounted by the packers, if the packers even choose to buy them. This is going on even though the beef from those cattle is eligible for a mixed-origin label that includes both the U.S. and Mexico.
While all this is happening, USDA does nothing – by design, I think. USDA did not support COOL, and I believe, is setting up COOL for a complete failure. If this occurs, beef will be generic in the U.S., and the U.S. consumer will have no idea where their beef originated in the world and no choice as to which country’s beef they choose to cook for their family’s dinner.
The long-range goal of the huge multinational food corporations is to acquire food anywhere in the world where it can be produced for the least cost, where cheap land and cheap labor can be exploited. We have seen in this country what “too big to fail” has wrought in the financial industries. Do we really desire to turn over food production to multinational corporations?
There basically is only one industry left in Rural America sufficiently dispersed to provide nearly every rural community with the opportunity to generate new economic activity. That industry, the independent U.S. cow/calf sector, produces a new set of wealth each spring. If this sector fails, grocery stores will be full of food from around the world, and the average American will have no choice as to which country’s beef her family consumes.
It will be generic beef.
I give us about 10 years, unless we fight for COOL, and win