11/07/08 COOL impact at retail meat case hard to measure right now

Washington Ag November 7, 2008 Now that it is in effect, the impact of mandatory country of origin labeling at the meat case may be hard to measure because of the current economic situation in the U.S. Dr. Jim Robb with the Livestock Marketing Information Center told Washington cattlemen during a teleconference this week that consumers are trading down in the marketplace. Robb: "You know they are going to buy hamburger instead of steaks. They are eating hamburger instead of steaks at restaurants and at home. And a lot of the hamburger is going to be from multiple sources." Robb also pointed out that imported beef and beef from imported animals only represents a little over ten percent of the U.S. beef supply. Then there is the fact that COOL only applies to beef at grocery stores not in restaurants and Robb says about half of U.S. beef consumption on a dollar basis is eaten away from home. Robb: "Now maybe down the road as the U.S. economy comes out of recession maybe we will be able to measure that they are going to pay higher prices for U.S. origin product." As for Canadian beef in particular, Robb said most studies show U.S. consumers do not respond negatively to Canadian beef. I'm Bob Hoff.