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Study suggests changing MCOOL labeling for Canadian beef and pork
Story Date: 6/7/2012
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Source: Rita Jane Gabbett, MEATINGPLACE, 6/6/12
A new study by Canadian and U.S. public policy research firms suggests current U.S. mandatory country-of-origin labeling (MCOOL) rules should be changed to create a simplified "Product of Canada and the USA" labeling system for beef and pork.
The new label should apply to beef and pork as well as livestock raised, processed, and traded between Canada and the United States, recommends Canadian research firm the Fraser Institute and the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a D.C.-based public policy organization dedicated to advancing the principles of limited government, free enterprise, and individual liberty.
"Canadian cattle and hog exports to the United States have decreased by 42 and 25 percent, respectively, since MCOOL went into force in 2009," said Alexander Moens, Fraser Institute senior fellow and co-author of “MCOOL and the Politics of Country-of-Origin Labeling,” in a news release.
The groups argue that Canada and the United States have developed an integrated supply chain for many red meat products in which calves and pigs may be born in one country, raised in another, and slaughtered on either side of the border and that MCOOL imposes a tracking, segregating, and recording system that increases production costs.
Specifically, the groups suggest:
Implementing bi-national food and animal safety standards for beef and pork
Installing a bi-national inspection regime on both sides of the border at various stages of the production process, including in slaughtering and processing plants
Blending or harmonizing meat grades designations
Adopting a single, bi-national country-of-origin label, specifically "Product of the USA and Canada" and
Removing all border inspections.
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