Feedstuffs | July 21, 2003 | Issue 29 | Volume
75
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The stage is set for a major battle on country-of-origin labeling (COOL) when the fiscal 2004 appropriations bills go to a House-Senate conference. The House bill, after a bitter floor fight, retained its "Bonilla Amendment," which gives a one-year timeout on mandatory labeling by removing U.S. Department of Agriculture funds for implementation of the mandatory program on beef, pork and lamb. Reps. Dennis Rehberg (R., Mont.) and Darlene Hooley (D., Ore.) lost -- as expected -- a heated battle to keep the funding on a 208-193 vote. COOL supporters said they were pleased by the relatively narrow margin on the vote -- even though it lost. The Senate appropriations committee did not entertain the notion of stripping COOL funding, and a bipartisan group of farm-state Senators led by Sen. Tom Harkin (D., Iowa) said last week they had the votes to insist on keeping the funds in the final bill when the two versions go to a House-Senate conference. A floor vote on the Senate's bill is expected soon, which will move the two versions into a conference. Another amendment, which failed -- but on a close vote -- in the House, dealt with the disposition of downer cows and the risk of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). Rep. Gary Ackerman's (D., N.Y.) amendment, which would have prevented USDA from "expending any funds to approve meat from downed animals for human foods," failed by just three votes, with 199 ayes to 202 nays. Opponents to the amendment said the issue was whether or not veterinary inspections of downed animals would continue in the U.S. to track important animal diseases. Ackerman focused on the food risks and noted that companies such as McDonald's, Wendy's and Burger King already "refuse to accept the meat of downed animals" and that USDA does not accept it for school lunch programs. He noted that USDA has conducted a study "and has concluded that if (BSE) ever did occur in the U.S., it would most likely be found among downed cattle than the general cattle population." However, House agriculture committee chairman Bob Goodlatte (R., Va.) argued that was the very reason downed animals must be inspected at processing plants. "When they show up at the slaughter houses, that is where the veterinarians are on hand to inspect them and to make sure that animals that are not healthy do not get into the food chain. They are pulled off the line at that point ... and the public has that safety assurance," Goodlatte said. Goodlatte and other opponents to the Ackerman amendment feared if downer cows were euthanized on farms because there was no incentive to take them to a processing plant, the U.S. would lose an opportunity to conduct surveillance on downer animals. It was just such an inspection at a packing plant in Alberta that identified the BSE index cow in Canada. In another meat-related issue, neither the House nor the Senate spending bills fund a $1 million Grain Inspection Packers & Stockyards Assn. audit of major meatpackers. The audit was sought by the Bush Administration. The Senate appropriations committee approved an amendment from Sen. Byron Dorgan (D., N.D.) to loosen travel restrictions for U.S. citizens who wish to travel to Cuba to negotiate such sales. The amendment was supported by the American Farm Bureau and the National Farmers Union. Dorgan offered his amendment after the U.S.–Cuba Trade & Economic Council was denied a license to travel to Cuba to host its next U.S. Food & Agribusiness Exhibition in Havana. The group hosted a similar event in 2002, with sales of $92 million in U.S. farm goods, according to a statement from Dorgan's office. His amendment would permit those who sell food or medicine to travel to Cuba under a general license rather than being required to obtain a specific travel license from the treasury department. "Those traveling to Cuba to sell food and medicine would simply have to document that they meet the criteria -- namely that they are going to Cuba to sell food or medicine -- rather than need to obtain a personal license," a statement explained. The Bush Administration has taken a strongly anti-Castro position and "has consistently used the personal license requirement as a way to block travel to Cuba by those seeking to sell food and medicine there, denying most requests," Dorgan's office reported. Copyright Feedstuffs, Miller Publishing Company |