With the Country of Origin Labeling Law going into effect this week, there is confusion over interpreting the law, how exactly to comply, and where to find the correct information. This week we will focus on some of the new information coming out as the deadline approaches.
The Arizona Daily Star has a great refresher course of the law and how it will affect consumers and wholesalers alike. You can also read our previous post, Are You Ready for COOL? for the fundamentals of the labeling law.
Even though they have had over six years to fix the matter, people are finding loopholes within the law and lawmakers are expected to address them in the next few days. The Alexandria Echo Press elaborates:
The farm bill language explicitly states exclusively born, raised and processed U.S. animals cannot be used in the multiple country category (category 2). This loophole allows packers to use the label intended to be for U.S.-born, raised and processed animals on products that are mixed with animals from other countries.The Madison Daily Leader continues:
The COOL start-up will not take place without some last-minute concerns expressed by 31 U.S. senators, including Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., who issued a press release on Thursday. The senators asked Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer to review the department's COOL policies and correct some possible loopholes in the labeling program.Despite the attempt to fix the loopholes, some argue that the new law does not go far enough. RedGreenandBlue.org presented their list of five flaws in the COOL law. Number one on the list was concern over pet food:
The 31 senators asked Schafer to revisit several COOL policies, starting first with a USDA rule that could allow meat packers and processors to combine U.S. meat with meat from animals that were produced in foreign countries. The bipartisan group of senators was concerned that processors could still label the product as U.S.-produced.
The law does not apply to pet food. In 2007, contaminated gluten and rice protein from China was used to make pet food, resulting in the death of thousands of dogs and cats across America. The food was also used to feed pigs, chickens, and farmed fish which entered the human food supply, but no illnesses were reported. The same pet food would be exempt from the new labeling because only the ingredients were imported, not the final product. Mixtures do not apply under the law— not even fruit salad.At PacFoods, we have spent the past few weeks reading ourselves for the new law. Here are our top three choices for the best places to find information:
1) The AMS Powerpoint presentation (clicking this link will download the presenation directly onto your computer) on the new law is a quick, easy to navigate presentation that strips the confusing legal jargon from the law and makes it easy to understand.
2) Write the USDA directly at COOL@usda.gov. As a food distributor, it was important to know how the law affected our business. The response time was under a week, and they were able to clearly answer our questions.
3) The Frequently Asked Questions PDFs on the AMS website are updated often and also clearly break down the rules in understandable terms.
