|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dow Jones Newswires – Monday – January 12, 2009 – 5:20 p.m. EST (quotes R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard) U.S. Changes Meat-Label Law To Clarify Country Origins By Bill Tomson Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--Changes to the U.S. country of origin labeling law for meat now allow U.S. industry to highlight the U.S. contribution in production when livestock are raised in more than one country before being slaughtered, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture document filed Monday with the U.S. Federal Register. Even if cattle or swine are born outside the U.S., the label that ends up on the meat cuts can list the U.S. first so long as the animals were partially raised here. In such cases, "the countries of origin may be listed in any order," the USDA said in the final rule on the country of origin labeling law that is scheduled for publishing in the Federal Register Tuesday. The new "final" rule, which replaces an interim version that has been guiding the U.S. meat and livestock industries since Sept. 30, says "if animals are raised in another country and the United States...the raising that occurs in the United States takes precedence over the minimal raising that occurred in the animal's country of birth." Addressing Foreign Concerns The new final version of the labeling law will also make business for U.S. plants that kill domestic and imported livestock easier and give them more flexibility in labeling, according to a USDA official on condition of anonymity. "It makes it easier for [U.S.] producers who are feeding Canadian pigs," said the USDA official, who asked not to be named because of the ongoing sensitivity of trade between the U.S., Mexico and Canada. "It makes it easier for [U.S.] producers who are feeding Mexican steers." And that flexibility, the USDA official said, will also address concerns voiced recently by Mexico and Canada. Both countries, which the U.S. hopes to placate, recently went to the World Trade Organization, seeking consultations with the U.S. over the origin labeling law. US Groups Aren't Pleased The provisions that make business easier for U.S. packers to label their beef or pork also make it easier for them to make the meat they produce seem more U.S. in origin than it really is, said Bill Bullard, chief executive of the rancher group R-CALF United Stockgrowers of America. The U.S. imports 2.5 million head of live cattle every year, Bullard said. And the first country name listed on the meat from those imports should be the foreign country. "We would rather have it [labeled as] product of Mexico and the United States if the animal originally was imported from Mexico," Bullard said. "They've given the importers an advantage in labeling." The USDA also left a "loophole" in the law that could rob ranchers of U.S.-born and -raised cattle of the value expected from a U.S. origin label, the National Farmers Union said. "The final rule still contains a loophole that would allow meat packers to use a multiple countries, or Nafta [North American Free Trade Agreement], label, rather than labeling U.S. products as products of the United States," the farm group said. "This is misleading to consumers." On the plus side, though, for ranchers concerned about foreign imports, the USDA did away with a provision that allowed companies to send U.S.-born cattle to Mexico to be raised there, bring them back to the U.S. for slaughter and then to label the beef as solely U.S. origin, Bullard said. -By Bill Tomson, Dow Jones Newswires NOTE: In
accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, any copyrighted material herein is
distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior
interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational
purposes only. For more information go to: |
|
Interested in advertising on this
website? Contact
Laurel for more information. This page was last updated on Wednesday, October 12, 2011. |
