Labelling reform not COOL: U.S. producers

American beef producers want labelling rules changed to allow them to capture more value, but deny it is mandatory country-of-origin labelling.

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association in June filed a petition with the Food Safety and Inspection Service at the United States Department of Agriculture asking that the “Product of the USA” label be eliminated.

The label applied by packers and retailers is generic in that it isn’t subject to source verification or based on food safety standards.

“Under current regulations, imported products are eligible to bear the label if they are simply repacked in a FSIS facility,” said Tanner Beymer, director of government affairs and market regulatory policy in a video message to producers.

“This broad use has the potential to be confusing to consumers and does not provide cattle producers the opportunity to capture additional value for the product that they raise.”

The NCBA said the label could be misinterpreted and lead consumers to think the product is entirely from the U.S.

Canadian Cattlemen’s Association executive vice-president Dennis Laycraft said the concern seems to be product coming in from other countries that is lightly reworked and given a U.S. product label.

He said CCA intends to work closely with the NCBA and other allies to make sure this doesn’t turn into another fight over mandatory COOL. The NCBA has said it doesn’t want mandatory labelling and Canada won its World Trade Organization challenge in the last go-round.

“We all want to keep the North American marketplace functioning as efficiently as we can,” Laycraft said. “This is one file where it’s almost a constant watch on it.”

NCBA president Jerry Bohn said voluntary, source-verified claims that allow producers to distinguish their product in the market would be more effective.

“There is a growing desire among consumers to know more about the origin of the food they purchase, and it is critical that producers are empowered with opportunities to market their high-quality beef in a way that allows them to differentiate the source of their product from competitors and potentially increase profitability,” he said.

Instead, the NCBA has asked for new rules allowing a “Processed in the USA” label be introduced as a voluntary label. It said it hopes to work with the USDA’s agricultural marketing service to educate producers, processors and retailers about opportunities in this regard.

The USDA has process verified programs that producers could use to support the investments they make.

The petition comes after the NCBA established in 2019 a transparency in labelling working group to address concerns about the existing label. The group recommended the new policy and members approved it in 2020.

The NCBA said its policy team will work with USDA in the future “to ensure origin claims and source labels can only be used if they are from voluntary and verified programs.”