For Immediate Release Contact: Shae Dodson, Communications Coordinator
February 18, 2009 Phone: 406-672-8969; e-mail:
[email protected]
Group Strongly Supports Secretary Vilsack's
Call for Changes to Final COOL Rule
Billings, Mont. – On Tuesday, at the invitation of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack,
R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard participated in a conference call with the Secretary, along with representatives of the National Farmers Union, Consumers Union, the Consumer Federation of America, Food & Water Watch and the American Farm Bureau Federation, to address problems with loopholes in the final mandatory country-of-origin labeling (COOL) rule, originally scheduled to take effect in March.
Today, R-CALF USA wishes to thank Vilsack for contemplating issuing a letter to the industry,
asking participants to comply with Congress' intent when it wrote the law, and specifically to correct the following three issues:
* The use of a mixed-origin label on meat from U.S. animals does not provide the specific information that Congress intended to provide to consumers.
* The exemption of commodities from labeling requirements because they had been cooked, roasted or cured does not comply with Congress' intent to inform consumers of the origins of the food they purchase.
* The provision that allows meat processors to include a country's name on ground meat even when no product is sourced from that country for 60 days does not provide accurate information to consumers as Congress intended.
Secretary Vilsack said he has two choices to correct these deficiencies: 1) start a whole new rulemaking process, which would mean that these problems would persist until a new rulemaking could be completed (this could take five to seven months); or, 2) issue an official directive to the industry to immediately correct these problems.
"We are extremely pleased that Secretary Vilsack recognizes that the final COOL rule does not meet the intent of the COOL law passed by Congress and also that he realizes his responsibility is to implement the COOL law as passed by Congress, not to make a new law in the rulemaking process," said R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard.
"Secretary Vilsack asked R-CALF USA and the other participants for their input on the two options based on his belief that the problems in the COOL rule could be corrected much quicker by informing the industry that if they don't immediately comply, a new rulemaking would immediately be initiated," he continued. "The Secretary believes the industry will want to comply with his request, and R-CALF USA agrees that if the industry does comply, then consumers would be provided accurate labels sooner than if a new rulemaking were initiated as the only solution.
"We hope that industry participants will honor the requests of Secretary Vilsack to provide accurate COOL labels to consumers at the earliest date possible," Bullard emphasized.
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R-CALF USA (Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, United Stockgrowers of America) is a national, non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring the continued profitability and viability of the U.S. cattle industry. R-CALF USA represents thousands of U.S. cattle producers on trade and marketing issues. Members are located across 47 states and are primarily cow/calf operators, cattle backgrounders, and/or feedlot owners. R-CALF USA directors and committee chairs are extremely active unpaid volunteers. R-CALF USA has dozens of affiliate organizations and various main-street businesses are associate members. For more information, visit
http://www.r-calfusa.com or, call 406-252-2516.