HAY MAKER
Well-known member
Date: February 21, 2007
Subject: Time to Implement COOL: Letters to Congress Needed.
R-CALF USA members were in Washington, D.C., last week urging Congress to implement country-of-origin labeling for beef by September 2007. You will recall that COOL opponents successfully delayed implementation of COOL for beef until September 2008, so we need Congress to pass a new law to move the date to 2007.
COOL opponents are lobbying hard to convince Congress that the COOL law is unworkable and should be changed. However, the COOL law has been successfully implemented for fish and shellfish since April 2005, and it’s been working ever since! It’s now time to implement COOL for beef.
Please consider writing a personal letter to your Senators and Representatives explaining to them why you want COOL implemented by September 2007. In your letter, you can explain that USDA found solutions to all the perceived problems when they wrote the rules for fish and shellfish, and these same solutions can now be used as a model to implement COOL for beef.
A new rule for implementing COOL for beef should:
â€" Allow packers to indicate beef has come from imported animals without having to specify each further production step that may have occurred in the U.S.;
â€" Allow packers to label blended products with a list of the countries of origin that may be contained in the product, rather than a definitive list of each country;
â€" Allow retailers to rely on pre-labeled products for origin claims;
â€" Allow meat packers to rely on country markings that already are applied to cattle imports in order to determine origin;
â€" Eliminate unnecessary and duplicative record-keeping requirements regarding chain of custody and separate tracking during the production process to allow packers and retailers to rely on documents they already keep in the ordinary course of business;
â€" Reduce the record retention requirement from two years to one year; and
â€" Specify that producers and retailers do not need to demand affidavits or third party verification audits of suppliers in order to adequately substantiate origin claims.
COOL for fish and shellfish is already working under a common-sense approach. The same can be done for beef, and it can be done under current law without further delay. The changes outlined above would help address any legitimate concerns about the costs of the labeling program, while preserving the full benefits of mandatory COOL for U.S. cattle producers and for their consumers.
Your letters will help build the momentum to implement COOL that was started during R-CALF USA’s Washington, D.C. fly-in last week. If we start early, we’ll win early!
You can write your Senators using the following address:
The Honorable (Full Name)
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510
You can write your Representative using the following address:
The Honorable (Full Name)
United States House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
It would also be helpful to send a copy of your letter to the USDA. Here is the USDA address that you should send your COOL letter to:
Country of Origin Labeling Program, Room 2607-S
Agricultural Marketing Service
1400 Independence Avenue SW, Stop 0254
Washington, DC 20250-0254
Thanks for your help and good luck with your letters!
Subject: Time to Implement COOL: Letters to Congress Needed.
R-CALF USA members were in Washington, D.C., last week urging Congress to implement country-of-origin labeling for beef by September 2007. You will recall that COOL opponents successfully delayed implementation of COOL for beef until September 2008, so we need Congress to pass a new law to move the date to 2007.
COOL opponents are lobbying hard to convince Congress that the COOL law is unworkable and should be changed. However, the COOL law has been successfully implemented for fish and shellfish since April 2005, and it’s been working ever since! It’s now time to implement COOL for beef.
Please consider writing a personal letter to your Senators and Representatives explaining to them why you want COOL implemented by September 2007. In your letter, you can explain that USDA found solutions to all the perceived problems when they wrote the rules for fish and shellfish, and these same solutions can now be used as a model to implement COOL for beef.
A new rule for implementing COOL for beef should:
â€" Allow packers to indicate beef has come from imported animals without having to specify each further production step that may have occurred in the U.S.;
â€" Allow packers to label blended products with a list of the countries of origin that may be contained in the product, rather than a definitive list of each country;
â€" Allow retailers to rely on pre-labeled products for origin claims;
â€" Allow meat packers to rely on country markings that already are applied to cattle imports in order to determine origin;
â€" Eliminate unnecessary and duplicative record-keeping requirements regarding chain of custody and separate tracking during the production process to allow packers and retailers to rely on documents they already keep in the ordinary course of business;
â€" Reduce the record retention requirement from two years to one year; and
â€" Specify that producers and retailers do not need to demand affidavits or third party verification audits of suppliers in order to adequately substantiate origin claims.
COOL for fish and shellfish is already working under a common-sense approach. The same can be done for beef, and it can be done under current law without further delay. The changes outlined above would help address any legitimate concerns about the costs of the labeling program, while preserving the full benefits of mandatory COOL for U.S. cattle producers and for their consumers.
Your letters will help build the momentum to implement COOL that was started during R-CALF USA’s Washington, D.C. fly-in last week. If we start early, we’ll win early!
You can write your Senators using the following address:
The Honorable (Full Name)
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510
You can write your Representative using the following address:
The Honorable (Full Name)
United States House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
It would also be helpful to send a copy of your letter to the USDA. Here is the USDA address that you should send your COOL letter to:
Country of Origin Labeling Program, Room 2607-S
Agricultural Marketing Service
1400 Independence Avenue SW, Stop 0254
Washington, DC 20250-0254
Thanks for your help and good luck with your letters!