DES MOINES, Iowa – Dangers to the U.S. hog industry lurk in the shadows of Capitol Hill in Washington, threatening to leap into legislation and cost producers lots of money.One of the dangers also menaces Canadian farmers: an extension of country-of-origin labelling to processed meat products made in the United States.”It was in the notes,” said Bob Dykhuis, an executive member of the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC), about early warning signs from congressional committee discussions that someone wants to extend COOL.”If you go into the processed meats side, it would be really difficult.”Straight cuts of meat from Canadian-born pigs must be labelled as Canadian on retail store shelves, but meat that is further processed and included in multi-ingredient products does not.Dykhuis said extending COOL rules to processed food would be almost impossible for products such as hot dogs because they contain so many ingredients. NPPC has opposed COOL because it believes the North American industry is integrated and that regulatory and labelling complications cost U.S. producers money. American legislators aren’t expected to extend COOL soon, but NPPC president Sam Carney said many dangers to pork producers can suddenly appear in Congress.”That’s why we have people who are in Washington, D.C., because there are things that can be amended to these bills at the last minute that could end up resulting in some very egregious things.”COOL came into law through an amendment to a non-related piece of legislation.
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