Commentary by Bill Bullard, CEO, R-CALF USA
South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds is inviting other senators to join him on a letter calling on Congress to include mandatory country of origin labeling (MCOOL) for beef in the 2024 Farm Bill. We would like everyone reading this message to call their two U.S. senators to urge them to cosign Sen. Rounds’ letter. And here’s why.
A trade attorney friend said that U.S. cattle ranchers were the ultimate victim of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Appellate Body, who acted as a puppet for global meat packers. But I would submit that U.S. consumers were likewise the ultimate victims of the WTO’s misconduct because it was the WTO’s ruling that caused Congress to stop informing them as to the origins of the beef they buy for their families.
Now Congress repealed MCOOL for beef in 2015. It kowtowed to the WTO and deprived every U.S. consumer of their right to know from which of the 20 or so countries their beef came from.
And almost immediately after Congress repealed MCOOL for beef, the multinational beef packers began putting a “Product of the USA” label on beef that was exclusively born, raised, and slaughtered in a foreign country, like Uruguay, Costa Rica, Brazil, Mexico, and Canada.
We tried to prevent this huge consumer deception by filing a lawsuit against the Department of Agriculture (USDA) for allowing multinational beef packers to cheat consumers with the USDA’s false and misleading labels.
But the USDA defended the rights of packers to continue deceiving consumers, and the court ruled we were time barred from winning our case.
So, the USDA won, packers were allowed to continue deceiving consumers, and the court said only Congress could fix what was broken.
You see, when MCOOL was in place, the multinational packers could not deceive consumers because the law required that the country-of-origin labels on imported beef had to remain on the beef product through retail sale. That meant all the way to the consumer. So, it was unlawful when MCOOL was in place for the multinational beef packers to throw away the foreign label and replace it with the “Product of USA” label.
But with MCOOL repealed, the multinational packers are authorized to continue putting their false and misleading “Product of USA” label on beef produced exclusively in a foreign country.
This may sound unbelievable because it’s so wrong, but it is true. You just can’t make this stuff up.
Now the fix is an easy one. All Congress needs to do is reinstate MCOOL for beef, so like your chicken, lamb, fish and shellfish, and fruits and vegetables, beef would also bear a label informing consumers as to where the animal had been born, raised, and slaughtered.
But Congress has so far refused to act. It seems Congress can’t decide if its loyalties are to the American people or to the unelected and unappointed international tribunal known as the World Trade Organization.
The latest three presidents – Presidents Biden, Trump, and Obama, all recognized the WTO had gone off its rails, and all three presidents took steps to shut the WTO down by not allowing it to appoint any members to its Appellate Body. But it was too late, the rogue WTO had already ruled against MCOOL
Just before Memorial Day, over 470 military veterans wrote Congress and urged it to stand up for America by reinstating MCOOL for beef so American consumers could choose to support American ranchers.
And last week, Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) drafted a letter to the U.S. Senate agriculture committee urging that MCOOL for beef be included in the 2024 Farm Bill. Sen. Rounds is inviting other senators to join his letter.
The letter points out that MCOOL for beef is essential to ensure transparency in the marketplace, by creating a level playing field for U.S. cattle producers. It states that, “Producers of foreign beef should not receive an unfair advantage when engaging in our domestic markets, especially as our competitors do not always meet American animal health and consumer safety standards.”
The letter also states that it was a coalition of large meatpacking companies and foreign beef interests that worked to repeal MCOOL, and they accomplished that through the ungovernable WTO.
With dozens of U.S. senators cosigning Sen. Rounds’ letter, we can turn the tide and convince Congress to stand up for America. I hope every American that reads this message calls their two senators and urges them to cosign Sen. Rounds’ letter that urges Congress to restore mandatory country of origin labeling for beef or MCOOL in the 2024 Farm Bill.