Posted June 25, 2015
Sen.
Debbie Stabenow (D., Mich.) released a draft proposal which would remove beef
and pork mandatory labeling provisions under Country of Origin Labeling (COOL)
and put a completely voluntary Product of the U.S. label in its place,
according to a Feedstuffs article available here.
Agri-Pulse also published an article available here.
A recent COOL blog post is available here.
Stabenow
said she hopes her proposal offers a pathway forward on COOL following a May
World Trade Organization (WTO) ruling which found the United States out of
compliance again.
“This
proposal offers a viable alternative and I look forward to discussing it at our
hearing and with my colleagues in the Senate as we work to come to agreement on
a bipartisan solution,” she said.
House
Agriculture Mike Conaway, R-Texas, rejected Stabenow's proposal. He said he
would continue to insist on full repeal of the law. A voluntary labeling program is OK but only as long as
it is run by the industry and not subject to requirements of the law, according
to Agri-Pulse.
“If
there's teeth in it, if there's requirements in it … we're not going to do that.
A voluntary program that's strictly run by the industries, that's fine with
me,” he said.
The North
American Meat Institute continues to support his strategy. “The real opinions
that count about this bill are those of the Canadian and Mexican governments,”
said their president and CEO, Barry Carpenter. “Change that doesn't satisfy our
trading partners or the WTO still results in billions in tariffs.”
For more
information, a copy of the legislation is available here.
For more information on Country of Origin Labeling, please
visit the National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.
