030156 Country-of-Origin Rules Based on Retail Needs

Kansas City - Amid an atmosphere of speakers that called the new Country-Of-Origin Labeling law a marketing opportunity for U.S. beef producers, a U.S. Department of Agriculture official said the proposed implementation rules were designed specifically to meet the law's specific retail-level requirements.

Speaking before the fourth annual convention of R-CALF United Stockgrowers of America, Barry Carpenter, deputy administrator for the USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service, said labeling of U.S. beef could be such a good marketing tool that cattlemen should consider releasing importers of their checkoff contribution duties and use the program to promote U.S. beef.

The law calls for country of origin labeling that the consumer can read in plain English, and the country of origin must be documentable.

Since the paper trail must be able to verify the country of origin of each package of meat at the retail level, the agency couldn't simply call for the tracking of imported products and assume everything else was of U.S. origin. There are too many variables that could cause a mix-up.

The labeling law provides a framework for consumer notification of a product's origin, product marketing and record-keeping, Carpenter said. However, it specifically prohibited the USDA from mandating a specific trace- back system.

Specific Requirements To Tackle Specific Law

Key issues for AMS administrators to tackle were defining a covered commodity, labeling products of U.S. origin, labeling imported products, labeling products of mixed origin, labeling blended or mixed products, methods of notification, state and regional programs and the verification and enforcement of the guidelines, Carpenter said.

For red meats, covered products include muscle cuts and ground products, he said. A covered commodity is excluded if it is an "ingredient in a processed food item," but Congress didn't define this phrase.

Carpenter said officials decided that meant the commodity had been materially changed from its original form. Therefore, items in processed products were excluded, although he admitted drawing the line got a little fuzzy. An example might be a ready-to- cook beef Wellington, ground beef in a meal mix or ground beef with added ingredients like sausages.

But solution-enhanced commodity cuts and frozen ground beef patties will be covered since the commodity hasn't been materially changed, he said.

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