Country of Origin Labeling

[Anonymous]

I think consumers want to know where their food comes from. Do you think the Country of Origin Labeling law is good or bad? Why?

Is the flap about the cost of records valid or is it just a ploy by the Packers and/or Retailers to cut support for the law by consumers/producers?



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[Anonymous]

I think consumers do want to know where their food comes from. Now whether they will pay more for US labeled beef is doubtful in my mind. Do they pay more for anything else that bears the MADE IN USA label? Is it going to cost cow-calf producers? You bet. It's going to cost the feeder more to keep those imported animals separate and the packers more to keep the beef from imported animals separate. And neither feeders or packers were asking for this program. So they aren't going to pay for it. I think they'll likely take the added expense out of what they pay you for your cattle. One opinion, for what it's worth.

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[Anonymous]

Consumers want to know where their food comes from if it doesn't cost them extra.

No one knows how much COOL will cost, or how it will be implimented.

The Texas Cattle Breeders Assoc. has a good article about the need for individual cattle I.D. to even make COOL possible.

The packers aren't the only ones concerned with COOL, many U.S. cattle organizations are as well. As a Canadian, I have seen the same type of potential trade blocking legislation pushed many times, usually it becomes a case of be careful of what you wish for.

Jason

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[Anonymous]

> I don't believe for a minute that COOL will cost as much as the packer industry estimates. Mexican feeders are (for the most part)finished in the US and then sent back as boxed beef. US ownership in the yards. Jason sells breeding stock, no label there, canadian feeders can be topped off in the US, US ownership and labeled. the rest is just accounting and tracking of the occasional imported beef and don't you believe for a minute businesses don't track those. I worked in hardware and we imported low end ceiling fans, when one came back we could find out which container it came off of. So just label the beef and use the some of the checkoff money to promote safe, healthy American beef Nothing sells like the words NEW AND IMPROVED.

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[Anonymous]

If I read your post right, you believe all animals that spend any time in a U.S. feedlot will be labeled product of USA? This isn't the intent or rules for COOL, but I agree some animals will be marketed that way. Then when the public finds this out (non-ranchers read this site), they won't pay any attention to the US label. Price will definately be the deciding factor.

Jason

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[Anonymous]

You really need to read the COOL guidelines before you start running your mouth. To receive the Made in USA label, beef must be born, fed and processed in the US. And you must be able to PROVE it is BORN, FED and PROCESSED in the US. There are supposed to be labels saying Born in Canada, Fed in the US, Processed in the US. There will be many many variations on lables. But for your cattle to be sold as US beef, you must be able to prove they were born in the US and never left the country.

 

[Anonymous]

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[Anonymous]

OK guys, mea culpa looked up the language inCool @ the usda site and I still don't believe labeling is a bad thing. If packers can track ecoli tainted beef across distributors and retailers in 14 states the paperwork on which feed lot the cattle came out of isn't going to be such a backbreaking task. The problem I see is, as Jason pointed uot the customers must trust the lable for it to be an asset in selling our beef. It's possible the USA lable could be a selling point just like the cab program lable.

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[Anonymous]

The packers fought this thing tooth and nail and now you expect THEM to keep track of where the beef was born, raised and fed? They can track ecoli, but it's in their interest to do so and it's not a cheap procedure. Why would they lift a finger to make COOL work? It's on producers to send an animal into the packing plant that is identified. Or at least that's the way I read the guidelines.

 

[Anonymous]

I posted a lengthy response to this question over at Ranchers.net, might have been you who posted the Q Jon.

If not, tracking e-coli is far different from tracking indivdual animals from different countries. The recalls are on batches from the same facility at the same time. Much more beef than is actually contaminated is recalled because it can't be exactly traced as to time of contamination.

Some ideas of COOL are great, but the devil is in the details. It might cost more than it helps. It might not help at all, and just take profit from producers.

Best case for American producers, it will stop cattle from Canada and Mexico coming in, but we will just sell those cattle to Japan, Korea etc. as beef. American producers will lose the higher dollar export markets and reduce their profitability. Eventually U.S. demand will increase to a point where Canada will be able to ship higher priced beef down to the States and no extra dollars from this beef will go to American producers.

Jason

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[Anonymous]

> Everyone fought this because it is easier to fight than make it work. exspecially when the gov gets involved. Made in America campaigns work. Walmart liked it, they just couldn't find enough products to support national advertizing campaigns. The devil is in the details and yes this cool as presented sucks.I can' believe that the legal bean counters won't accept Idaho labled potatoes or Washington apple producers products. I view this as not an attempt to exclude other countries product just an attempt to promote American ones Jeez, I bought into a bull syndicate a couple of years ago at the Canadian Royal show. Yes I know there are people that would like to just close our borders and Duh yes I know that is just dumb. BUT a made3 in the USA lable sells and if a program like this can be made to work it couild go a long way toward making food safty worries die down.

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