Groups say rule guts label law
By TOM LUTEY Of The Billings Gazette Staff
Friday, September 19, 2008 9:45 AM CDT
Montana farm and ranch groups say efforts to put USA labels on American meat are being scuttled by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, less than two weeks before American branding arrives in supermarkets.
County-of-origin labeling, or COOL, is supposed begin Sept. 30, allowing U.S. consumers to know if they are buying American. The labeling is the product of a six-year push by producers and consumer groups arguing that shoppers should know the origins of their food, as they do for shoes or car parts.
The USDA now says it will allow meat processors to pair Canada and Mexico with the USA label, even when all the meat in the package comes from the United States. Montana farm and ranch groups say that's not what they were looking for.
"It is unconscionable that we get this close only to have USDA disrespect the process and agreement," said Alan Merrill, Montana Farmers Union president.
One U.S. meat processor, National Beef, has published its plan to meet country-of-origin standards with a label that reads, "Product of USA, Canada, Mexico."
Meat processors have resisted the USA labeling idea from the beginning, said Bill Bullard, president of the Billings-based group Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund and United Stockgrowers of America. The USDA's decision to allow mixed-origin labels on U.S. beef favors processors that don't want the trouble of labeling an American product, he said.
On Wednesday, R-CALF USA, the National Farmers Union and the United State's Cattlemen's Association wrote Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer, asking him to reconsider.
USDA did not answer interview questions submitted to the department Thursday. A week ago, Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., wrote Schafer asking for a correction in the COOL language. Tester essentially told the secretary that American ranchers shouldn't have to worry about their T-bones bearing a label suggesting they might be from Mexico. The senator first got involved with COOL at the state level, passing labeling requirements in the Montana Legislature should federal COOL rules fail.
A Tester spokesman said Thursday that he hadn't heard back from USDA. The issue has been shepherded by all three members of Montana's congressional delegation. Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., has been pushing for USA labeling for six years.
"I worked to get mandatory country-of-origin oabeling included in the 2002 Farm Bill and to make sure it was funded through the appropriations process. The Bush administration has fought me every step of the way on this, and I'm sick and tired of them playing games with this program," Rehberg said. "The law is very clear. Meat is supposed to be labeled so that consumers know where it came from. I will oppose any USDA rule that ignores the clear intent of the law."
Country-of-origin labeling concerns more than just meat. Beef, lamb, chicken and pork are slated for country labeling at month's end, but so are fruits and vegetables, peanuts, pecans, macadamia nuts and ginseng.
Seafood already is labeled by country of origin, which hasn't sparked a surge in patriotic fish buying.
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