VCOOL

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Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling (MCOOL) is dead, buried and best forgotten.

That said, maybe there is still some hope for American beef producers to leverage our premium beef over foreign beef.

National Cattlemen's Beef Association is trying to effect change to implement Voluntary Country of Origin Labeling (VCOOL)

To do that USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) needs to step in and exert oversight of VCOOL and not expect of the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) to do it. FSIS will not help on labeling, they cannot by law.

Contact you state cattleman's association so they hear from us.

Contact your US Senators, and House member to let them know you want to see this.

This is the only online source I could find about VCOOL

https://www.drovers.com/article/ncba-seeks-clarity-consistency-beef-origin-labeling-practices

 

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From that link
NCBA said it and its state affiliates are committed to working together with USDA to bring forward a meaningful solution to ensure that any voluntary country-of-origin claims are verified by USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) prior to the approval of labels by USDA-FSIS. NCBA believes that beef labels with voluntary country-of-origin labeling marketing claims should be verified through existing USDA framework that is market-based and respects international trade commitments. It is critically important that any changes not trigger retaliatory tariffs from Mexico or Canada that have already been approved by the WTO.

 

[cbcr]

Would there be any way with the VCOOL program that it could include Mexico and Canada? If cattle from their side of the border are fed and raised just as US beef animals and many of them are processed in the US, could the be included?

I know that the main reason for this rule is because of the amount of beef is coming in from Brazil and other foreign countries and mixed in with our beef.

 

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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – A New Mexico rancher has filed a lawsuit against four big companies claiming their “Produced in the U.S.A.” promise is plastered on imported beef.

Attorney Blair Dunn said that sticker can be found on beef that was slaughtered in the U.S., but could have been born, raised and imported from places like Brazil, Australia and Argentina that don’t have the same environmental, handling or food safety standards as the U.S.

https://www.krqe.com/news/albuquerque-metro/nm-rancher-files-lawsuit-over-misleading-beef-labels-claiming-us-production/