Source: Chris Scott, MEATINGPLACE, 9/19/11

USDA’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has issued a series of recommendations designed to strengthen implementation of country of origin labeling rules (COOL) by the Agriculture Marketing Service.
Originally part of the Farm Bill of 2002, COOL requires retailers to notify customers of the country of origin of specific commodities at the final point of sale, including muscle cuts of beef, lamb, chicken, pork and ground meats. Earlier this year, AMS reported that it had conducted 13,000 retail reviews for overall COOL compliance, which it rated at 96 percent. 

The OIG report, however, indicates that more work remains despite the “significant strides” it notes AMS has made.

The OIG findings and recommendations for AMS include:
• Improving the retailer selection process for reviewing COOL compliance
• Strengthening AMS retailer review procedures
• Improving the timeliness of AMS evaluations of retailer documentation
• Improving AMS enforcement of COOL regulations
• Improving the oversight of state agencies AMS works with on compliance checks and
• Improving AMS communication with retailers

USDA said AMS agreed with the recommendations and has addressed several of them already. The agency said it will launch the initiatives that have not already been addressed sometime in 2012. The full OIG report is available here.