The Future of COOL

The USDA gave their final ruling last week on the Country of Origin Labeling or COOL. The big change will be that muscle cut meats will no longer be allowed to be co-mingled -- meaning that cattle originating from Canada or Mexico can no longer be packaged with U.S. beef.

As Washington Cattlemen’s Association Executive Vice President Jack Field explains, no one is exactly certain what the future will hold concerning COOL.
Field: “Right now I think it is too early to tell what if anything will happen but the hope is clearly that there will not be any retaliation but that may be wishful thinking.”

However, if either of our neighbors decide to strike back through trade retaliations -- it could hurt US. beef exports to both countries -- which totaled more than $2 billion in trade in 2012.

In addition to finding the best solution for consumers to learn where their meat comes from, there is also need to balance the cost to the industry for the labeling change.

Field: “We need a rule that provides the information to the consumers as well as not creating an economic burden throughout the industry. I’m confident that we can get there, I hope that this is the mechanism that gets us there. At the end of the day, my next biggest hope is that this rule does not get mired down in legal challenge. Because it seems anytime we end up sending something to the courts for clarification we get one step further away from the industry and the producers that are keenly aware and involved in the process.”