Improving the quality of its domestic beef is the reason American cattle producers want a strict meat labeling law, says a representative of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.
Dale Moore, of the NCBA Washington, D.C. office, said the American beef industry is trying to market more high quality beef that meets specific criteria. They want to improve domestic consumption by offering a more consistent, safe product. They figure that can be achieved by knowing where cattle came from and how they were raised.
About 1.1 million Canadian slaughter animals were processed this year in the United States and received a domestic label.
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“If we are working toward developing a consistent type product then we have the beef from 1.1 million head of animals that we don’t have any control over,” said Moore.
“Because of the way the trade agreements operate, you have a fairly open border coming south with these live cattle going to our slaughter plants, yet it’s like pulling teeth to get more than 40,000 head of feeder cattle into Canadian feedlots,” said Moore.
Labeled as imported
Ground beef and processed products may not be included at this time but whole muscle cuts would be labeled as imported product all the way to the retail counter.
The meat labeling law is part of a larger appropriations bill that has about 70 riders attached to it, said Moore.
The NCBA, American lamb producers, National Farmer’s Union and the Farm Bureau support the legislation. The National Pork Producers Council said it did not want to be included.
Bill in progress
The bill is in the conferencing process where the House of Representatives and Senate meet to produce a bill from the two pieces developed by each level of government.
The bill was scheduled to be before secretary of agriculture Dan Glickman by July 31 when the Senate closed for an August recess. The secretary has 120 days to introduce regulations to put it in force. The cattle producers hope to see the legislation in effect by February.
“There is a certain amount of pressure for him to do this as soon as possible,” said Moore.
There were rumors the cattlemen’s association supports this legislation as a trade-off to gather grassroots support in the northern tier states for the national checkoff. The $1 levy is under challenge and by supporting meat labeling, northern producers would return their support for the checkoff.
Moore said the checkoff challenge and meat labeling bill are two different issues. The association’s rules forbid using checkoff money for lobbying purposes.
“This is an issue that has been debated for several years. It is not something we’re reacting to because of the checkoff situation,” said Moore.
