COOL or no COOL?

The roller coaster ride Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) implementation has taken would rival just about any amusement park’s best scream-maker. The original intent of COOL was to give the consumer knowledge of the origin of beef and other products they were buying. Consumers I talked to wanted that choice. COOL was to be implemented with the 2002 Farm Bill, but that enactment was delayed. What ensued for the next few years was an on again, mostly off again attempt at a labeling law. The 2008 Farm Bill stated that beef COOL would be mandatory. Beef packers, some feeders, and some foreign cattle organizations were very vocal in opposition to the law telling U.S. producers COOL would ruin the industry. The interim final rule was published with provisions for a six months trial implementation. Long before this trial period would have ended in April 2009, Canada, Mexico and Nicaragua lodged a complaint with the World Trade Organization crying foul. Now the USDA has issued early final rule that has satisfied these countries and has watered down the original intent of COOL. Would COOL have been detrimental to the U.S. cattle industry? We may never know, the USDA seems to cater more to foreign countries, beef packers and feeders using foreign beef and cattle than to the wishes of U.S. consumers and the hopes of U.S. cattle producers marketing beef labeled “product of U.S.A.