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Jun 25, 2015
The Senate Agriculture Committee held a hearing on Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) on Thursday, a day after Sen. Debbie Stabenow announced intentions to introduce a bill that would make COOL voluntary for beef and pork, but the rule mandatory for ground beef, ground pork and chicken.
If adopted, this approach would not be in line with Chairman Mike Conway’s bill that passed the House, 300-131, which would repeal COOL altogether. Earlier this month, the House of Representatives passed a bill to repeal the country of origin labeling standards for meat products sold in the United States. The legislation followed May’s final ruling from the World Trade Organization (WTO) that the COOL statute represents a violation of U.S. commitments under the WTO. The American Soybean Association (ASA) has supported repeal of the COOL rule based on potential retaliatory tariffs on U.S. soy exports, and on adverse impacts to the livestock industry, which represents the largest consumer of domestically produced soybean meal.
Chairman Pat Roberts commended Sen. Stabenow for looking for a fix; however he stopped short of endorsing the bill.
