Washington, D.C. R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard recently met with Edward Avalos, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs, other USDA officials and congressional staffers to discuss the country-of-origin labeling (COOL) law and the joint Senate letter circulated by Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., and Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., which encourages U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and U.S. Trade Representative, Ambassador Ron Kirk, to continue to aggressively defend COOL against the World Trade Organization (WTO) complaints filed by Canada and Mexico.
"In addition to its support of the joint Senate letter, R-CALF USA reiterated its recommendation that USDA immediately begin a new rulemaking to close the loophole in the COOL law that allows the mislabeling of USA beef with a multi-country label," said R-CALF USA COOL Committee Chair Mike Schultz.
"R-CALFUSA explained that a new rulemaking may nullify the Canadian and Mexican complaints because these countries would be given an opportunity to express their concerns in the new rulemaking, making the WTO complaint premature," said Bullard. "We also provided officials with documentation showing that numerous countries that accept U.S. beef exports continue to ban Canadian beef and beef derived from Canadian cattle imported into the United States. These export bans help to explain that the reduced demand for Canadian beef and cattle in the U.S. is due in large part to ongoing safety concerns about Canadian beef and are not the result of the COOL law."
The joint Senate letter states in part:
"Over forty-five other nations have each already implemented a food labeling program which provides country of origin information to consumers. As you know, both Canada and Mexico have implemented food labeling programs of their own to make such information available. Some of the origin labeling programs implemented in other countries require that more information be made available to the consumer than what is required by the food labeling program in the United States. The food labeling programs established to date in other countries clearly indicate that the United States is implementing a reasonable program which is compliant with our trade obligations."
An additional 24 Senators, listed below, signed on to the joint Senate letter in support of COOL: Johnson (D-SD), Enzi (R-WY), Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D.; Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo.; Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis.; Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont.; Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Ark.; Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont.; Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa; Sen. Carl, D-Mich.; Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.; Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.; Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D.; Sen. John Thune, R-S.D.; Sen. Herb, D-Wis.; Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala.; Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio; Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine; Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb.; Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine; Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La.; Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore; Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.; Sen. David Vitter, R-La.; Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.; and, Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn.
"We are very pleased with this strong, bipartisan support for COOL in the U.S. Senate and we are hopeful this strong support will help Canada and Mexico understand that U.S. citizens have an absolute right to know where their food is produced and will lead to a voluntary withdrawal by these two countries of their complaint filed at the WTO," said Schultz.
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R-CALF USA (Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, United Stockgrowers of America) is a national, non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring the continued profitability and viability of the U.S. cattle industry. R-CALFUSA represents thousands of U.S. cattle producers on trade and marketing issues. Members are located across 47 states and are primarily cow/calf operators, cattle backgrounders, and/or feedlot owners. R-CALFUSA directors and committee chairs are extremely active unpaid volunteers. R-CALFUSA has dozens of affiliate organizations and various main-street businesses are associate members. For more information, visit www.r-calfusa.com or, call 406-252-2516.
