Suggestion for Congress to Address COOL

Suggestion for Congress to Address COOL

Protectionism that will cause retaliation by trading partners, consumers right to know — COOL or Country of Origin Labeling can bring a lively discussion to any table filled of ranchers. Those for and against COOL have been making their statements this week following Monday’s comments from the World Trade Organization’s Dispute Panel stating that Canadian and Mexican livestock exports are still treated less favorably than U.S livestock.
There was new pressure for a solution to the Country of Origin meat labeling rule, Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley feels COOL helps both producers and consumers and should be saved—but not by USDA.
Grassley: “I think the USDA has tried and tried and if they thought there was some way that they could write a WTO- compliant rule by amending but I presume that the statute is fairly restrictive — so that is why I think Congress better take a look at it.”
COOL implementation was delayed seven years from its creation in the 2002 farm bill, was then challenged successfully by Canada and Mexico at the WTO with a first ruling in 2011 and a second this week. Grassley can’t say how to fix the rule, but offered this
Grassley: “I’m willing to look at re-writing the legislation — and I don’t even have a suggestion at that point. But I do believe in the principle that consumers ought to know where there food is coming from, just like they know where their t-shirts are coming from.”
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