01/19/06 R-CALF still hot about C.O.O.L.

01/19/06 R-CALF still hot about C.O.O.L.

It's going to be a busy three days in Denver Colorado as R-C.A.L.F. U.S.A. conducts its annual convention starting today. So says R-C.A.L.F. U.S.A. C.E.O. Bill Bullard. BULLARD: We'll have speakers from U.S.D.A., from the industry, from Australia, talking about the top issues affecting the cattle industry today. Talking about trade, talking about competition issues, talking about animal I.D., talking about Country of Origin Labeling. Stop the tape. With everything R-C.A.L.F. is dealing with these days from Canadian cattle coming into our nation to a national animal I.D. system, the one issue that will be of primary focus to the organization this year is mandatory C.O.O.L. R-C.A.L.F. plans to lobby Congress to finally implement M-C.O.O.L. to its full extend. After all, Bullard says, M-C.O.O.L. was approved by Congress, but its implementation has been delayed by politics, with the goal of Mandatory Country of Origin labeling opponents to stall the regulation to death. BULLARD: We've already implemented Country of Origin labeling for seafoods that went into effect in 2005. The meat packers have pulled out all the stops. They simple do not want this and we know why. It's because it does not benefit the meat packers it benefits the producers. But in the opinion of Bullard, R-C.A.L.F. and other M C.O.O.L. supporters, it comes down to using that identifier as a promotion and marketing tool in an increasing global market. BULLARD: Critically important to our long term competitiveness both in our domestic market which happens to be the number one beef consuming marketing in the world. We need to differentiate our product so our consumers can exercise choice and select our product in the marketplace. And we need this as well for the international market. we have the reputation of producing the best beef in the world under the best of conditions. It is time that we promoted that as an attribute of our product through a label. And Bullard says the M-C.O.O.L. matter does dovetail into other key issues for his organization, and it all stems back to food safety and using that as a tool to increase U.S. beef markets around the world. BULLARD: Why we would allow beef and cattle from a country that has multiple cases of b.s.e. into the United States, co-mingle that product with the U.S. beef, and then we sit, and then have difficulty restoring our export market, and watching our export customers open their markets to the U.S. but imposing conditions on us far stricter than what we are imposing on Canada.
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