USDA Tries to Tighten COOL Rules

USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack is asking, but not telling, the meat industry to go above and beyond labeling requirements set out in new regulations finalized during the Bush administration.

The Bush regulation requires country-of-origin labeling, or COOL, on a variety of perishable goods including beef, pork, poultry, fish and other meat and non-meat products.

But the regulation includes loopholes that could continue to leave consumers in the dark as to the origins of their food. For example, the regulation defines processed foods, which are exempt from some requirements, in an overly broad way.

Vilsack is sending letters to industry representatives asking them to voluntarily close some of these loopholes. If industry does not heed his advice, Vilsack warns he will reopen the rulemaking process and change the regulation, thereby turning his suggestions into requirements. Vilsack writes, “Though it is important for the COOL Final Rule to go into effect in a timely manner and for the rule to proceed with the March 16, 2009, implementation date, there are certain components of the Final Rule promulgated by the previous Administration that raise legitimate concerns.”

For a better description of the loopholes, Vilsack’s letter, and background on the rule, see OMB Watch’s article, “USDA Announces Changes to Food Labeling Rule.”

Vilsack’s approach has pros and cons. The upside is that producers, transporters, and retailers may decide to adopt Vilsack’s suggestions and provide for consumers a fuller description of the path their food has taken from farm to table. By not attempting a new regulations, a lengthy process, Vilsack is attempting to generate results in the short term.

The downside is, of course, that it is all voluntary. American Meat Institute president J. Patrick Boyle told Pork Magazine (yes, that’s a real thing), "To the extent that companies are able and elect to go beyond these federal labeling requirements, as requested by Agriculture Secretary Vilsack, is an individual company decision, which will have to be made in collaboration with a company's retail grocery customers.”

Not exactly a clarion call for voluntary compliance.

Consumers may then face inconsistency. A product at one grocery store may bear a COOL label, but a similar product at another store will not.

Image by Flickr user gordasm;
Used under a Creative Commons license.

(Matthew Madia 02/25/09)

Comments

by Sue Diederich (not verified) on 03/27/09

Fine comments coming from

Fine comments coming from someone who doesn't know the farmer their food comes from... Real farmers and packers are not afraid of COOL - INDUSTRY is. Cargill is. Tyson is. The peanut plant in Georgia is. What the people who produce REAL food are afraid of is NAIS. And NAIS is anything but voluntary. They tell people its for food safety, yet it stops at slaughter. They tell people it will protect animal health, but it doesn't stop illegal importation, which has been the direct cause of BSE and TB in recent years. They tell people that farmers don't mind - but thousands of them have been protesting for over 3 years the fact that factory farms pay about 1/10th the cost for compliance as grandma will with her single laying hen in the backyard. NAIS is "voluntary at the federal level" - UNLESS you actually use veterinary services for your livestock. Then, the state you live in becomes responsible for registering your farm as a premise, and you are part of a database where your information will stay. The number assigned will stay with the property in perpetuity - until such time as livestock can no longer be raised there. How Voluntary is that??? Several states have made various parts of the program mandatory to avoid the necessary mess over interstate commerce laws. Consumers had better take notice. First of all because of the fact that NAIS will NOT protect you. It won't even protect the animals! But more important - even to vegans and vegetarians - is the cost to YOU! What happens when the cost to make a widget increases? Doesn't your retail price go up as well? 33 species of animal are covered by the NAIS program. 1500 uses for the casein in milk.... vaccines require ablumin from eggs and cattle. Many medications are derived from animals. Wool. Leather... What are seniors, single-parents and those facing foreclosure going to do when their already severely limited budgets will not stretch to cover three or more times the costs of living today? What will YOU do? Where do the vegans come in? Many of them are smart enough to require "natural" or "organic" labels on their food. Synthetic fertilizers are not allowed if the organic standards are followed. Just where is that manure to fertilize their produce going to come from when the small farmer is no longer raising livestock? Yet - NAIS would NOT have prevented the 43 million pound Hallmark/Westland ground beef recall. It couldn't have - more than 100 animals can wind up in a single pound of ground beef, and the minute the animal is dead, so is NAIS tracking. Consumers need to get educated really fast and start fighting this program. The Omnibus Act gave deadlines for mandatory, nation-wide implementation of NAIS. All are for 2009. Some have already passed. Already, in WI, civil forfeiture cases against small farmers (including the Amish) for non-compliance have been filed by the state. Raids on coops, one involving a SWAT team, are taking place all over the country. Raids on farms have been happening for several years. The only voice that isn't counted is the one that is never raised. Don't let that be your voice. Google NAIS, learn about the program, and then check on the 5 current bills before Congress (HR 875, 759, 814, 1332 and S 425). Call state and local legislators and tell them you want REAL food safety, not the end of small farms, organics, slow foods, raw foods and even the ability to grow your own. Tell them to defeat each and every one of these five bills and come up with something that might actually work, without driving half the country into bankruptcy court! Go meet the people that raise your food. Talk to them. Buy from them directly. Let the Cargills, Tysons, Smithfields and Reynolds (yup - the cigarette people) pay for the program designed to eliminate the problems THEY cause, and tell the government to leave the responsible producers, and those who only raise animals for their own freezer, as well as your wallets, alone. Sue Diederich IICFA Palatine, IL suediederich@comcast.net