A voluntary country-of-origin labelling law in the United States is a welcome development for Canadian red meat exporters who hope the proposal survives passage through Congress.
The Food Promotion Act was approved by the House of Representatives agriculture committee. If passed by both the House and Senate, it would replace the mandatory law slated to go into effect September 2006 as part of the U.S. farm bill of 2002.
The bill was introduced by the committee on June 15 and was passed July 22. It moves to the whole house for full consideration as early as September.
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The voluntary proposal was drafted by beef, pork, seafood and vegetable producer and processor organizations that argued the requirements were far too expensive and onerous to apply.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s marketing service estimated that the cost of the implementing and maintaining the system would be $3.9 billion, $2.4 billion of which would be borne by the U.S. meat industry.
Canadian are taking a wait-and-see attitude since the proposal was introduced through a committee during the summer, said Brad Wildeman of the Canadian Catttlemen’s Association.
While it may be received favourably in the House of Representatives, the Senate is likely to take a different view.
“It has a much tougher challenge for the Senate where mandatory country-of-origin had its origins,” he said.
“Our position is we have no problem with a voluntary approach,” he said.
Martin Rice of the Canadian Pork Council agreed.
“We have no difficulty with voluntary laws even if they follow precise parameters,” he said.
“This will relieve the onus on everybody to implement expensive systems for product identification and segregation.”
The bill was presented as a way to give consumers more choice at the retail level. It did not apply to poultry, dairy, food service or outlets with sales below $250,000. Opposition came from organizations including the Ranchers-Cattlemen’s Legal Foundation based in Montana, the American National Farmers’ Union and the Consumer Federation of America, an association of 300 consumer groups.
In a statement, R-CALF said the proposal may die once it goes before the Senate.
They argue the voluntary approach was the “result of the strong lobbying arm of packers, processors and retailers applying pressure to lawmakers, instead of lawmakers being on the lookout for the best interests of U.S. beef consumers and U.S. cattle producers.”
