Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling (MCOOL)
This is a campaign to get Congress to immediately pass mandatory country of origin labeling (MCOOL), Senate Bill S.421, to require all foreign and domestic beef sold in grocery stores to bear labels as to where it was born, raised, and harvested. It must be mandatory and not voluntary because we already have voluntary country of origin labeling, and the big 4 meatpackers voluntarily do not label beef with its origin.
Chart: MCOOL’s repeal in 2015 caused beef (blue) and cattle (red) prices to diverge. MCOOL will help restore the relationship between beef and cattle prices, provide consumers with more choices and pricing options, and regulate beef prices.
We Need Your Help
Call Your Senators to Cosponsor MCOOL
We need to act fast and get as many cosponsors on the bill as quickly as possible so that it can be swiftly passed by Congress or included in the upcoming Farm Bill.
If any of your senators are newly elected, please call and inform them that mandatory country of origin labeling for beef is needed so U.S. consumers can distinguish beef from cattle born, raised, and slaughtered in the USA from the growing volume of cheaper, imported beef that is harming American ranchers because their domestic beef market lacks transparency.
Action: Please call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask for each of your senators by name and urge them to cosponsor the American Beef Labeling Act S.421. They can call either Senator Thune’s office or Senator Booker’s office to become a cosponsor.
Please continue to make weekly calls and ask your friends, relatives, neighbors, and other acquaintances to help make calls until your senator agrees to support the American Beef Labeling Act.
If your senators are already sponsors of the American Beef Labeling Act currently introduced in the Senate (S.421), thank them for their support!
S.421 bipartisan sponsors include Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and Sens. Booker (D-NJ), Rounds (R-SD), Heinrich (D-NM), Lummis (R-WY), Fetterman (D-PA), Hoeven (R-ND), and Luján (D-NM).
MCOOL Letters to the Editor Needed
Letters to the editor are one of the best ways to educate and influence a wide audience in your community, including your elected officials who pay extra close attention to what matters to voters in their districts.
Many Americans do not know that the origins of the beef they purchase are being kept hidden from them, so they are unable to choose for themselves whether to buy American produced beef or imported foreign beef.
Action: Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. Now is the perfect time to inform voters and elected officials in your community that Congress must pass mandatory country of origin labeling (MCOOL) for beef. Be sure to include your congressional members’ names in your letter to the editor.
Additional resources are available below, including example letters to the editor, to help you write your letter.
Click on state for a list of links to contact newspapers in your state.
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Pennsylvania
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Tennessee
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Vermont
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Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
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Additional Resources
Congressional offices all follow Letters to the Editors in their newspapers. Write your own Letter to the Editor to newspapers in your state and include your Congressional Representatives’ names. Examples are below.
Stoneberg: Dear Editor, Why are some groups opposing MCOOL? | TSLN.com
Kimball Livestock Exchange: We support MCOOL | TSLN.com
Bentlage: Cattle ranchers need Congress help against big 4 meatpackers | The Kansas City Star
Stockton: Consumers overwhelmingly want country of origin labeling | Ravalli Republic (Mont.)
Bipartisan Beef – Opinion Editorials – U.S. Senator John Thune (senate.gov) **Share Sens. Thune and Tester’s Op-ed with your local newspaper.
Anderson: Support honest labeling of beef | Letters to the Editor | bismarcktribune.com
Stockton: USDA Labeling Fraud – Western Ag Reporter
Bullard: Beef Packers, Allies Urge Congress to Do Nothing in Face of Broken Cattle Markets
Evans: Label misleads: It’s time for transparency in meat production – WyoFile
Dunlap: It’s time to demand a fair and transparent marketing system Lewistown News-Argus (Mont.)
Opinion: Dockter: Who supports ND beef? | TSLN.com (N.Dak.)
Iversen: Concentration in the marketplace | TSLN.com (S.Dak.)
O’Shaughnessy: Where’s the beef (from)? | Rome Daily Sentinel (romesentinel.com) (N.Y.)
Dockter: We need MCOOL | TSLN.com (N.Dak.)
Paulsen: MCOOL and 50/14 Letter to the Editor Crofton Journal (Neb.)
Share the Resolution to Support Mandatory COOL for Beef (available here) with your state legislator or Tribal Council and ask them to introduce it in your state legislative session.
So far, the South Dakota State Legislature and the Navajo Nation Council have passed Resolutions to Support MCOOL.
10.14.2022 MCOOL update | TSLN.com
8.30.2022 Advocates of COOL for beef see a pathway to success – if Senate acts | InsideTrade.com (Sign up for the free trial to view.)
4.25.2022 Hard-Fought Battle Continues Over Beef Country-of-Origin Labeling (dtnpf.com)
4.7.2022 – House members sponsor MCOOL legislation – Tri-State Livestock News
-1.7.2022 – VIDEO – Fox News Tomi Lahren: Ranchers and consumers losing money because of foreign meat imports
-12.21.2021 – PRESS RELEASE – Ranch Group Applauds Navajo Nation’s Support of MCOOL
-12.17.2021 – PRESS RELEASE – Colorado Ranchers Raise More Than $24K for MCOOL, 50/14
-12.11.2021 – ARTICLE – US News by Associated Press – Navajo ranchers want imported beef labeled
-09.17.2021 – EDITORIAL – Rapid City Journal – Thune: Real American Beef
Buy or Sell US Born, Raised & Processed Beef
Until Congress passes the MCOOL law for beef, connect directly with US cattle producers at www.USABeef.org.
