10/31/05 Mandatory COOL on ice again

American Rancher October 31, 2005 Implementation of mandatory Country Origin labeling for meat will be delayed again, this time until September 30th of 2008 under terms of the conference report on the 2006 agricultural appropriations bill which the U.S. House passed Friday. R-CALF CEO Bill Bullard says the action is disappointing and his organization will now pursue other strategies to get COOL implemented including writing new legislation to address the concerns that have been raised. One issue being verifying the origin of live animals. Bullard: "And the solution of course is to remove cattle from the list of exceptions for products required to be labeled. So if we remove cattle from what is called the "J-List"cattle would automatically be required to be labeled with a mark of origin upon importation." When it comes to delay by Japan on reopening to U.S. beef congress is fed up. A bi-partisan group of 21 Senators have introduced legislation to retaliate against Japan. Kansas Republican Pat Roberts is among the bill's sponsors. Roberts: "Japan has chosen to ignore internationally recognized science and instead based their food safety on emotions and politics. And this comes at a high price to the American beef industry." The bill would require the President to impose 2.7 billion dollars in tariffs on Japanese products by the end of the year if Japan fails to open its market to U.S. beef by December 15th. I'm Bob Hoff.