House unveils V-COOL

SALLY SCHUFF, Staff Editor

Several meat industry groups applauded last week’s introduction of a bill calling for a voluntary country-of-origin labeling (V-COOL) program for beef, pork and lamb sold in the U.S.

 If enacted, the voluntary program would replace the mandatory country-of-origin labeling for meat that is required to begin on Sept. 30, 2006.

 The new bill, which was introduced by House Agriculture Committee chairman Bob Goodlatte (R., Va.) and co-authored by Reps. Roy Blunt (R., Mo.), and Marion Berry (D., Ark.) would permit retailers to label beef, pork and lamb as products of the U.S. if they were derived exclusively from animals born, raised and slaughtered in the U.S.

 The National Meat Assn., American Meat Institute, National Pork Producers Council and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Assn. all support the V-COOL proposal.

 American Farm Bureau Federation president Bob Stallman, whose organization strongly supports the new bill, said in a statement, “Mandatory country-of-origin labeling for meat would place significant new costs on beef, hog and sheep producers, with the largest impact falling on independent producers.  …  By approving a voluntary program, Congress would be placing control in the hands of consumers at the marketplace.”

The new legislation is sure to spark yet another confrontation with R-CALF, the grassroots cattle industry group that fought hard for mandatory labeling during the 2002 farm bill debate.  The National Farmers Union, which also strongly supported mandatory labeling, opposes the V-COOL legislation as well.

In a statement opposing the measure, the Consumers Federation of America noted, “Voluntary labeling has been an option for years, yet few processors and packers have been willing to participate.  The only time these large processors and packers support a voluntary system is when they are trying to kill the mandatory one.”

The bill, named the Meat Promotion Act of 2005 (H.R. 2068), has 34 House cosponsors.  If approved in the House, it will face a challenge in the Senate, which has shown great reluctance to reopen the farm bill, particularly on this issue, which it supported in the last farm bill debate.

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