New COOL rule published today in Federal Register

The Federal Register today is publishing a new Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) rule written to bri…

The Federal Register today is publishing a new Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) rule written to bring the United States into compliance with World Trade Organization agreements.

The new rule from USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service modifies labeling requirements for muscle cuts of meat and amends the definition what constitutes a “retailer.”

“Under this proposed rule, origin designations for muscle cut covered commodities derived from animals slaughtered in the United States would be required to specify the production steps of birth, raising, and slaughter of the animal from which the meat is derived that took place in each country listed on the origin designation,” AMS said.

“In addition, this proposed rule would eliminate the allowances for any commingling of muscle cut covered commodities of different origins,” the agency statement continued.

AMS began working on the rule change after the U.S. partially lost a WTO appeal in 2012 to rulings in challenges brought by Canada and Mexico. WTO’s appeal board found the U.S. Country of Labeling requirements gave less favorable treatment to foreign cattle and hogs than to domestic livestock.

The U.S. was given until May 2013 to bring its County of Labeling rule into compliance with WTO.

“There is overwhelming consumer support for country of origin labels and a growing interest by consumers in knowing the source of their food, the Washington D.C.-based consumer group Food & Water Watch said.

“The USDA’s proposed rule will help families know where the meat in their supermarket came from,” F&WW added.

“The proposed changes eliminate the vague and misleading ‘mixed origin’ country of origin label for meat and ensures that each cut of meat clearly displays each stage of production (where the animal was born, raised and slaughtered) on the label. This commonsense approach improves the usefulness of the information consumers receive from the label and allows livestock producers to distinguish their products in the marketplace.”

In publishing the rule, AMS is allowing for a 30 day period for public comments.