Business

Editor: Sharon Li
11 Sep 2008 09:40:03 GMT

WASHINGTON –One of the core reasons Congress drafted a country-of-origin labeling law was to help promote U.S. products by singling them out, but the U.S. Department of Agriculture has undermined that goal by allowing producers a cheaper, multi-country-of-origin label option, Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., said in a letter to the USDA.

In the Sept. 9 letter, a copy of which was obtained by Dow Jones Newswires, Tester complained that the rules USDA wrote to interpret the labeling law make it preferable to meatpackers to simply label their products as having come from multiple countries rather than having to keep track of individual national origins.

The USDA is scheduled to begin implementing country-of-origin labeling, a law that would mandate that much of the beef, pork and chicken on supermarket shelves be labeled.

"This gives consumers the impression that there is no domestically born, raised and slaughtered livestock and denies our American livestock producers the opportunity to focus on promoting U.S. beef, lamb, pork, chicken or goat meat," Tester said in the letter.

Bill Bullard, chief executive of the rancher group R-CALF United Stockgrowers of America, said Wednesday he thinks the USDA’s rule on country of origin labeling "misinterprets" what Congress intended because it allows meatpackers to "circumvent the use of the USA label."

If meat comes from an animal born raised and slaughtered in the U.S., packers should have to label it as such, he said.

USDA Undersecretary Bruce Knight told Dow Jones Newswires on Wednesday that meatpackers will only go to the extra lengths of separating meat from different countries and label the U.S.-derived product as being of U.S. origin if they believe it will be worthwhile.

"The marketplace will determine the highest and best use for product if there is a premium for U.S. origin. And there are definitely packers out there … where you’re clearly going to have product that will be labeled ‘of U.S. origin,’" Knight said.

But R-CALF’s Bullard insisted the USDA rule creates a "big problem" and his group will go back to Congress to seek legislative changes.