USDA Ends COOL Enforcement With President Obama’s Signature on the Omnibus Bill
“Congress did this and the President concurred without any congressional debate, let alone public debate,” it continued. “Section 179 was cemented into the massive spending bill behind closed doors.”
R-CALF said the repeal amounts to a gift by the President and Congress to 15 other nations that produce beef and pork for sale in the U.S.
USDA’s regulations to implement country of origin labeling were upheld by U.S. Courts when they were challenged by North American meat producers. The WTO, however, found the labeling scheme amounted to a non-tariff trade barrier prohibited by trade agreements signed by the U.S.
And to even the scales, WTO said Canada and Mexico could begin imposing retaliatory tariffs on other products the U.S. sells in those countries.
Bill Bullard, chief executive of R-CALF USA, said the U.S. could have tried the diplomatic approach with Canada and Mexico to see if there were ways outside of WTO “to resolve their parochial concerns with our COOL law before any retaliatory tariffs could be implemented, but the President and his cabinet remained indifferent to the potential loss of the right of U.S. citizens to know the origins of food.”
Philip Ellis, president of the Denver-based National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, said repeal of COOL was one of several victories for cattlemen and woman that were contained in the omnibus.
Ellis said COOL was a failed program with its costs imposed on cattle producers.
Effective immediately, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says, USDA will no longer enforce the Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) requirements for beef
www.foodsafetynews.com