Ranchers Cattlemen Action Legal Fund United Stockgrowers of America (R-CALF USA)
Yesterday, U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) reintroduced the American Beef Labeling Act to reinstate mandatory country of origin labeling (MCOOL) for beef.
The legislation will insert “beef” and “ground beef” back into the existing MCOOL law that requires country-of-origin labels on many food commodities, including meat from chickens, sheep and goats.
The legislation, however, delays the implementation of MCOOL for beef for up to one year, allowing the United States Trade Representative (USTR) and the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture (Secretary) six months to develop the means of reinstating MCOOL for beef in a way that complies with the applicable rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The initial six-month period is then followed by a second six-month period during which the USTR and Secretary may implement MCOOL by the means they have developed.
If the USTR and the Secretary have not already implemented MCOOL for beef one year after the legislation’s enactment, then the legislation shall take effect on that one-year anniversary.
R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard said Majority Leader Thune and Sen. Booker’s reintroduction of the bipartisan MCOOL bill for beef demonstrates their responsiveness to U.S. cattle producers and consumers alike who have urged Congress to reinstate labels on beef that inform consumers as to where the animal from which the beef was derived was born, raised, and harvested.
“This multi-sponsored, bipartisan Thune/Booker MCOOL bill is critically needed to restore competition to the nation’s broken cattle and beef markets marked by inflated beef prices paid by consumers and depressed cattle prices paid to U.S. cattle producers.
“Only with MCOOL for beef can cattle producers compete in their own domestic market where packers and importers – and not cattle producers and consumers – currently decide how much foreign beef they will import into the U.S. market to displace domestic beef production and reduce demand for cattle exclusively born and raised in the United States.
“We are profoundly appreciative of Majority Leader Thune and Senator Booker for taking the lead in representing the interests of their respective cattle-producing and beef-consuming constituents by reintroducing this critically important MCOOL bill,” Bullard said.
U.S. Sens. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.) and John Hoeven (R-N.D.) cosponsored the American Beef Labeling Act.
You can read the full text of the legislation here.