Country of Origin Labeling

Country of Origin Labeling
Pork

MCOOL and Hog Prices: Temporary Gratification, Issue Paper #3, 5/27/03 - The mandatory country-of-origin provisions (MCOOL) of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 will disrupt the flow of hogs and pigs from Canada to the U.S. However implemented, it will impose costs for tracking Canadian-origin animals and labeling pork products derived from them. The same provisions will add very little to the price of Canadian- origin pork because they are already labeled "Product of Canada".

MCOOL and Producer Liability and Civil Fines, Issue Paper #2, 5/20/03 - The mandatory country-of-origin provisions (MCOOL) of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 do not explicitly place legal liabilities on America’s hog producers. The law imposes fines of $10,000 per violation, per day on any covered retailer who has “. . . willfully violated . . . . “ the MCOOL legislation. Retailers are allowed 30 days after a violation to comply with MCOOL but the law is not clear about what constitutes a new violation or the continuation of an old one, thus subjecting the offender to fines.

News

CONGRESS BLOCKS COSTLY MANDATORY COUNTRY-OF-ORIGIN LABELING IMPLEMENTATION
NPPC, November 25, 2003 - National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) President Jon Caspers said today's filing of the FY'2004 Omnibus Appropriations Bill blocking costly mandatory country-of-origin labeling until September 30, 2006, is a big win for the U.S. pork industry. Final passage is expected when Congress returns. Lawmakers opted for a two-year delay in implementing the controversial farm bill provision, thus opening the door for further study of this costly, cumbersome law.

PSF ready for COOL, begins source verification, Rod Smith, Feedstuffs, 6/2/03 - Premium Standard Farms (PSF) announced last week that the company will begin providing retailers with fresh pork products that comply with the country-of-origin labeling (COOL) rule because the company can certify that all its pork comes from pigs born and grown at its company-owned and contract farms in the U.S. and processed at its plants in Missouri and North Carolina. The announcement makes PSF the first producer to participate in the voluntary implementation of the COOL rule, which becomes mandatory next year.
Arnot said PSF believes the law will have negative consequences for U.S. agriculture, including pork production and trade, but will comply with it. The announcement said the company will begin providing source verification effective July 1.

NPPC begins COOL series with paper saying law will be hard on family farms, Rod Smith, Feedstuffs, 5/19/03 - The National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) last week began publishing an eight-week series of papers about the intermediate and long-term negative effects that the country-of-origin labeling law (COOL) will have on pork producers and the pork industry.

COOL and the U.S. Pork Industry: Who Will Raise the Hogs?, Issue Paper #1, 5/12/03 - Mandatory country-of-origin meat labeling (COOL) will impose on the U.S. pork industry costs of tracking hogs and pork from farm to retail grocery store. These costs will not be equal across the production chain, however, depending upon the production system and/or value chain organization method in question. Ironically, the new Farm Bill law touted by “family farm” advocates and their supporters in Congress as a way to save the “independent family farm” will favor vertically integrated production systems while imposing great burdens on those producers who are the least vertically integrated – mainly Iowa and Midwest producers.

Group says COOL 'absent of value;' economists refute dire claims about law, Rod Smith, Feedstuffs, 5/12/03 - "The Nebraska Pork Producers Assn. (NPPA) last week told a listening post called by the U.S. Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) to enlist input from interested parties on the country-of-origin labeling law (COOL) that a mandatory country-of-origin label will be "absent of value" for the pork production chain and consumers and will increase costs of production for pork producers."

NPPC Submits Comments to USDA on Country-of-Origin Labeling, Letter to USDA-AMS, 4/9/03 - National Pork Producers Council President Jon Caspers, a pork producer from Swaledale, Iowa submitted comments to USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) requesting that the agency minimize the costs of country-of-origin labeling on U.S. pork producers.

NPPC analysis of COOL 'audit trail' shows increased costs, lost markets, Rod Smith, Feedstuffs, February 17, 2003 - "Even in a best-case scenario, a government-mandated country-of-origin label (COOL) would be devastatingly expensive for the U.S. pork sector in the domestic market and especially in the export trade, according to an analysis done for the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) that was released last week."

Country of Origin Labeling: Implications for the Manitoba Hog Industry, Kevin Grier, Larry Martin & Holly Mayer, George Morris Centre, December 2002 "This project was undertaken at the request of the Manitoba Pork Council in order to asses the impact of the Country of Origin Labeling (COL) provisions of the US Farm Bill. The Council needs to know the consequences (economic and otherwise of COL upon Manitoba hog farmers."

COOL Clarified, Dale Miller, National Hog Farmer, Nov 15, 2002 - "U.S. farm groups generally support the proposal. Food companies and meat packers oppose it, saying it is unnecessary and costly. Canadian commodity groups, likewise, stand in opposition"

COOL Leaves Canadians Cold, Jim Romahn, National Hog Farmer, Nov 15, 2002 - "Canadian pork producers and packers are deeply concerned about the U.S. Farm Bill provisions for country-of-origin labeling that will become voluntary this fall and perhaps mandatory in 2004. Canadians have emphasized that the regulations need to avoid making it more difficult for imports than domestic products, else Canada will file a challenge under the North American Free Trade Agreement"

Impact of Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling on U.S. Pork Exports, Dermot J. Hayes and Steve R. Meyer, Iowa State University "According to the study, which incorporates cost studies based on the European Union experience, a traceback system implemented under COOL will increase U.S. farm-level pork production costs by ten percent or $10.22 per head. This is equivalent to a ten percent increase in the costs of on-farm production or approximately $1.02 billion for the U.S. pork industry. In addition, assuming the ten percent increase in costs is passed on to the retail level, U.S. consumers will likely demand seven percent less pork due to higher prices."