TAMPA, Fla. — Mandatory country-of-origin labelling could be fixed with a provision in the U.S. farm bill, says a trade adviser to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.
Instead, Gary Horlick said, the controversial law that has required all imported beef and pork to indicate country of origin on retail labels since 2008 is being revised in a rule that could take time to approve.
“There is no reason on earth we can’t put something in that farm bill to get rid of COOL or at least modify it to satisfy Mexico and Canada,” Horlick said at the NCBA annual convention held in Tampa Feb. 5-9.
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A new farm bill was scheduled for 2012 but was extended to Sept. 30, 2013.
Canada and Mexico challenged COOL legislation at the World Trade Organization and won in 2011. The U.S. appealed and lost.
“The May 23 deadline is approaching without a lot of sense of urgency. We would sure like to have everything done that is possible. The farm bill would be the best,” Dave Solverson, vice-president of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, told an in-ternational trade session of the NCBA meeting.
“We do not want to get into retaliatory options, which is within our right within the WTO. Can you imagine what a 25 percent tariff on your largest export market would do?”
The most recent numbers from the U.S. Meat Export Federation showed Canada accepted more than 162,205 tonnes of beef worth $1 billion between Jan. 1 and Nov. 30, 2012.
The NCBA sided with Canada and Mexico in their WTO challenge, and Horlick had predicted earlier they would win their case.
He said U.S. producers who want the COOL legislation changed need to visit their members of Congress to push for a speedy rule change.
“The golden rule works in trade just like a lot of other things. In trade agreements, we both agree how to treat each other,” said Horlick.
“We have to comply with these agreements when we sign them.”
He said the U.S. Department of Agriculture could offer an interim rule until a revision is placed in the farm bill.
“They could come up with a regulation in the interim phase, but that doesn’t mean they will.… It is in no one’s interest to drag this out.”
Meanwhile, a group of senators from Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota are leading a coalition to pressure the USDA and trade representatives to make sure the new rule can still tell consumers the origins of their food.
