Agricultural News
R-Calf Applauds Senators set to Introduce Mandatory COOL Bill for Beef
Thu, 09 Sep 2021 09:01:14 CDT
The following release comes from R- CALF USA and includes their perspective on the following issues.
Today, Senators John Thune, Jon Tester, Mike Rounds and Cory Booker jointly announced they are introducing a bill in the U.S. Senate to reestablish mandatory country-of-origin labeling (MCOOL) for beef. The legislation will reinsert "beef" and "ground beef" into the current MCOOL law that requires country-of-origin labels on many food commodities, including meat from chickens, sheep, goats and deer.
The legislation, however, delays implementation of MCOOL for beef for up to 12 months after enactment to provide the United States Trade Representative (USTR) and the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture six months to develop the means of reinstating MCOOL for beef in a manner that complies with applicable rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The initial six-month period is then followed by a second six-month period during which the USTR and Secretary may implement MCOOL in accordance with the means they had developed.
If MCOOL for beef has not already been implemented by the USTR and the Secretary one-year after enactment of the legislation, the legislation shall take effect on that one-year anniversary.
R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard said Senators Thune, Tester, Rounds and Booker's introduction of the bipartisan MCOOL bill for beef demonstrates their responsiveness to U.S. cattle producers and consumers alike who have urged Congress to reinstate labels on beef that inform consumers as to where the animal from which the beef was derived was born, raised, and harvested.
Bullard said, "this bill is critically needed to restore competition to the nation's broken cattle and beef markets marked by inflated beef prices paid by consumers and depressed cattle prices paid to U.S. cattle producers.
"Only with MCOOL for beef can cattle producers compete in their own domestic market where packers and importers - and not cattle producers and consumers - currently decide how much foreign beef they will import into the U.S. market to displace domestic beef production and reduce demand for cattle exclusively born and raised in the United States.
"We are profoundly appreciative of Senators Thune, Tester, Rounds, and Booker for taking the lead in representing the interests of their respective cattle producing and beef consuming constituents by introducing this critically important MCOOL bill," Bullard said.
Read the release here.
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