***Updated News Release***
For Immediate Release
Contact: R-CALF USA Communications Director Jaiden Moreland
Phone: 406-252-2516; r-calfusa@r-calfusa.com
National MCOOL Coalition Launches Petition Calling on White House, Congress to Label Our Beef
WASHINGTON, Sept. 1, 2026 — The National MCOOL Coalition, a broad-based coalition of national and regional organizations representing farm, ranch, rural, consumer and other interests, launched a petition this week calling on the White House and Congress to restore mandatory country-of-origin labeling (MCOOL) for beef.
The petition, “Label Our Beef,” follows a proclamation signed by President Donald J. Trump temporarily increasing the quota for lean beef trimmings by 300,000 metric tons, more than 660 million pounds, from Sept. 1 through Nov. 30. The action comes as the United States is already importing record volumes of beef and follows the administration’s earlier move to increase the quota for beef imports from Argentina.
The coalition said the additional imports add urgency to efforts to restore MCOOL and is asking Americans to support its restoration so consumers can distinguish imported beef from beef produced exclusively from cattle born, raised and harvested in the United States.
Momentum for MCOOL is growing in Congress. Earlier this month, the Senate Agriculture Committee voted 17-6 to advance MCOOL in the Farm Bill.
Through the petition, the National MCOOL Coalition is asking cattle producers, consumers and supporters of American agriculture to build on that momentum by signing and sharing the petition and sending a clear message to the White House and Congress: Label Our Beef.
“If Washington is going to open the door to hundreds of millions more pounds of imported beef, then American consumers should at least have the right to know where the beef they are buying comes from,” said Joe Maxwell, president of Farm Action Fund. “American cattle producers are proud of the beef they raise, and consumers should be able to choose it. Mandatory country-of-origin labeling is about something very basic: truth in the marketplace. Label our beef, let consumers decide, and let American ranchers compete.”
“Without country-of-origin labeling (COOL), multinational monopolistic corporations hold outsized influence over prices—often at the expense of both American farmers and consumers,” said Matt Van Schyndel, a farmer-member of Missouri Rural Crisis Center and National Family Farm Coalition, and owner of Hedge Holler Harvest. “By drawing on imports, these companies can raise prices for consumers while simultaneously paying less to U.S. producers. In 2025 alone, the United States imported 5.4 billion pounds of boxed beef from around the world, yet consumers often have no way of knowing where any of it came from and being able to choose U.S. beef. U.S. farmers and ranchers alike demand and deserve mandatory COOL.”
“With my family, I own and operate both a cow-calf commodity operation and a direct-to-consumer beef business; both businesses depend on mandatory-COOL. Consumers deserve to know the origin of their food, and U.S. and Montana producers need fair markets. Simple as that!” Jeanie Alderson of Northern Plains Resource Council said.
“Real competition is essential for both ranchers and consumers — instead, we are getting a market flooded with foreign products. President Trump and Congress must restore mandatory country-of-origin labeling for beef to give American producers an even playing field,” said Rebecca Wolf, food policy director for Food & Water Watch.
“We cannot import our way out of a broken food system. We need systemic reform starting with mandatory country-of-origin labeling, incentives for new and beginning ranchers, and we need to rein in the power of food monopolies. Ranchers and consumers need Washington to meet the moment and pass MCOOL,” said Gilles Stockton, Livestock Competition Campaign Team member for the Western Organization of Resource Councils.
“Consumers deserve to know where their food comes from,” said Thomas Gremillion, director of food policy at Consumer Federation of America. “Over a decade ago, Congress repealed MCOOL, despite overwhelming popular support, because it purportedly violated U.S. treaty obligations with Canada and Mexico. Now, as the Administration renegotiates those trade deals, there is no excuse for keeping consumers in the dark.”
“Adversaries, foreign and domestic, have far too long prevented American cattlemen from promoting—and consumers from choosing—a true product of the USA. MCOOL ends that,” said Dave Hyde, president of R-CALF USA.
“Americans already had mandatory country-of-origin labeling for beef. It was repealed only after multinational meatpackers joined with foreign trade ministries to secure an adverse ruling in Geneva and threaten U.S. producers with WTO-authorized retaliation. Every year Congress fails to restore MCOOL is another loss for American ranchers and consumers—and another victory for global packing houses and the WTO,” said Jon Toomey, President of the Coalition for a Prosperous America.
Sign the petition: https://form.jotform.com/262434091212043
Participating organizations in this petition include Campaign for Family Farms and the Environment, Coalition for a Prosperous America, Consumer Federation of America, Dakota Resource Council, Farm Action Fund, Food & Water Watch, National Family Farm Coalition, Northern Plains Resource Council, R-CALF USA, and Western Organization of Resource Councils.
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