What Is COOL & How It Affects Farmers – Livestock for Sale
The country of origin labeling program (COOL) is a federal law that requires retailers to inform their customers of the country of origin of certain products called “covered commodities.” Fruits, vegetables, and meat products are examples of covered commodities.
COOL was created to provide customers with products’ country of origin information, so they can make informed decisions during a purchase.
COOL is not a food safety law and does not address food safety or inspection concerns. There are labeling and processing requirements separate from COOL regarding these.
What Must Be Labeled?
The regulations define covered commodities include:
- Muscle cuts of beef, lamb, chicken, goat, and pork
- Ground beef, ground lamb, ground chicken, ground goat, and ground pork
- Fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables
- Peanuts
- Macadamia nuts
- Pecans
- Ginseng
- Wild and farm-raised fish and shellfish
Livestock, including poultry animals, is not a covered commodity. However, the meat products from those animals are covered commodities. Therefore, the packer, not the farmer is directly responsible for complying with COOL’s requirements to provide information and keep records. However, the farmer is responsible for showing the packing house documentation of country of origin.
In February of 2017, JBS, the worlds largest meatpacking company, asked countries around the world to ban imports of Brazilian beef to avoid tainted meat. The USDA said they were planning on stepping up inspections on Brazilian beef, but U. S. consumers have no way of knowing whether the beef in their local grocery store comes from Brazil or any other country.
The USDA does inspect the meat but does not include the information of where it comes from and we would venture to say that most Americans who have the opportunity to choose between Mexico, Brazil or American beef would be more inclined to purchase the U.S. product and support local beef market prices.
Big meat producers are against COOL requirements because they are costly for them but with the President encouraging everyone to “Buy American,” we hope to see a renewed push. We also believe there is an increase in awareness and desire to purchase products made in the United States. This is similar to the push for GMO and organic labeling. As consumers, we have a right to know what is going on with our food.
In the end, U.S. farmers want to encourage COOL in addition to the USDA inspection so consumers can make an informed decision. This has less to do with food safety and more to do with supporting our own farmers by labeling their products of produce and livestock for sale.