Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund (R-CALF) USA recently submitted a letter to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack proposing a mandatory country-of-origin labeling (COOL) bill.
“Reinstating a functioning mandatory COOL law is vital to U.S. cattle producers who are presently without the means to build demand for their U.S. cattle and to U.S. consumers who desire to know from what country their beef originates,” wrote R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard.
During his Senate confirmation hearing, Vilsack made a comment saying he would be interested in revisiting COOL if it could be done without triggering the World Trade Organization’s (WTO’s) tariffs. The letter included a draft bill, which addressed ways the bill differed from the old COOL law, which triggered the WTO tariffs.
The proposed bill would require packers and importers to label all imported beef; impose no recordkeeping burdens for live cattle; require all persons who sell beef at retail to adhere to COOL requirements; require beef distributed to food service places to be labeled; allow multiple countries on the label; and require all beef in U.S. commerce to be labeled.
