10/01/08 Will it ever be COOL?

Just when you think a project can be implemented along comes a spider and things get a little fuzzy. I'm Jeff Keane; I'll be back in one minute to tell you about such a plan. Just when I thought the rules to put into effect mandatory County of Origin Labeling (mCOOL) for beef were set and the identifying would start September 30th a little loophole has shown up. I was all ready to sit back and see if mCOOL would be what American consumers wanted and if the idea would be the marketing tool American cattle producers hoped it could be or, if it would become the costly disaster opponents predicted. Well, I read an editorial by John Goggins in the Western Livestock Reporter and it looks like the USDA could really muddy the waters. Goggins relates the USDA could insert language into its Interim Final Rule for mCOOL that when packers are labeling beef muscle cuts from cattle exclusively born, raised and slaughtered in the U.S. they would have the option to put a USA label on them  not the requirement to put a USA label on them. The purpose of mCOOL is for consumers to know where beef products come from not for consumers to guess. Who is the USDA working for  the consumer, the producer or the packer? As a producer I don't care for the USDA's idea even a little bit. I'm Jeff Keane. Western Livestock Reporter 9/17/08