The United States announced today that it will appeal a World Trade Organization ruling against its mandatory country-of-origin labelling law on meat and produce sold in grocery stores.
COOL came into effect in 2009, and Canada and Mexico successfully challenged its legitimacy at the World Trade Organization last November.
“We were expecting this thing but disappointed when it happened,” said Martin Unrau, president of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association.
Canadian lawyers are examining the appeal to determine what approach to take, he said.
A study from the Fraser Institute in British Columbia calculated the mandatory requirement lowered the price of Canadian cattle by $45 to $59 per head and hit the hog industry by $6.90 to $8.50 per head.
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Animals had to be identified and segregated at American plants, which added to their costs. The majority of American based processors preferred to procure livestock born and raised in the U.S.
The WTO ruled the U.S. was in breach of its international trade obligations because the COOL scheme implemented in the 2008 U.S. farm bill changed conditions of competition in the U.S. livestock marketplace to the detriment of imported livestock.
The law requires all retail food stores to label food by country of origin. It applies to muscle cuts and ground meat from beef, veal, pork, lamb, goat, and chicken as well as wild and farm-raised fish and shellfish, fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables, peanuts, pecans and macadamia nuts and ginseng.
