Posted on 06/11/2015 6:42:36 AM PDT by Enlightened1
WASHINGTON (AP) — Under threat of trade retaliation from Canada and Mexico, the House has voted to to repeal a law requiring country-of-origin labels on packages of beef, pork and poultry.
The World Trade Organization rejected a U.S. appeal last month, ruling the labels that say where animals were born, raised and slaughtered are discriminatory against the two U.S. border countries. Both have said they plan to ask the WTO for permission to impose billions of dollars in tariffs on American goods.
The House voted 300-131 to repeal labels that tell consumers what countries the meat is from — for example, "born in Canada, raised and slaughtered in the United States" or "born, raised and slaughtered in the United States."
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.myway.com ...
You just admit you would not eat anything from China.
Consumers IMO should have a right to know where the food is coming from since every country has a different standard.
Hiding that is insanity.
Oops, check that! I'm talking about the agricultural type.
I’ve read of warnings about shrimp harvested from the Mekong Delta as being toxic due the all the sewerage flowing out there. Get ready for some funny tasting shrimp once Congress caves. I sure as Hell want to know where my food comes from, as do most others. Campaign contributions win out again.
[Anecdotal] We were at gun show in AZ this past weekend and the wife struck up a conversation with a guy who was selling some nice jewelry. Turns out he was a bachelor and somewhat of a gourmet chef, who LOVED cod. So much so that he had an arrangement with the local fish department clerk to notify him when a new shipment came in.
He got a call, went down and picked up a “beautiful” filet. Does his chef thing, takes a bite - and almost vomits. He said the filet was slimy and tasted like algae. Checked with the clerk as to where it came from and the magic word “China” was spoken.
This is our future. We can only hope that the “Raised in USA” companies will see that it is in their interest to still put the American flag on their product. I don’t know if it will do any good, but I’ll write ‘em to that effect. No doubt, at some point, the govt will forbid them to do even that.
WTO wants the US to have tainted meat.
Recall how much hype around the world the news was when some “mad cow” was discovered here.
So they want to slap tariffs on US meat?
We will still buy US meat (without a tariff) and the rest of the world will still seek it out at the higher prices.
That’s what my beef says now.....’raised and harvested in the US’.....
When it stops saying that.....I go vegan!
I’m one of those people who try very hard to buy American......
Especially my food products.
What they’re doing with this bill is simply bullying and blackmail.
I don’t know how to fight against it.......There are so many things to fight against right now.
While labeling may no longer be required, is there any prohibition stateside on voluntary labeling claiming “US born and raised and slaughtered”?
PS different industry but the labeling on whiskey isn’t so clear either. Much of it is produced in Indiana or Kentucky and then bottled by some “small” producer and claimed as “Texas” product.
“Made in” can be a “tricky” term.
In the 1990s parts would be manufactured in China or elsewhere and assembled in the US so they could label it “Made in the USA”.
There were even stipulations of how much of the work could be done abroad (at what point is it a ‘computer’).
Same with foreign born livestock raised and slaughtered in the US.
True, but it costs money to label items. There are printing costs, inspection costs (to make sure your labels are really correct), bookkeeping costs, etc. The pennies add up.
Many American companies will accept this cost, knowing that a "Made in USA" label has value. On the other hand, companies are always looking towards improving profit for the next quarter. There is rarely a long-term view.
I see some companies eliminating labels to save those few pennies per item. Plus, without mandatory labeling it's tempting to go ahead and shift production overseas.
Buy local.
Jerks.
Just blows me away.
You have the right idea, if this becomes law from now on if package doesn’t have a country of origin label pass it by,
I must respectfully disagree, especially when it comes to food. One would hope that US food producers would keep their products of American origin in order to say "Made in America". That has value.
But consider TVs and refrigerators. First one company went overseas, then another, then another. It became a race to the bottom. I'd sure hate to see that happen with US food production.
As a side note, I once saw a can of peaches labeled "Product of USA, packaged in Thailand". I was startled by that, so I called their consumer affairs number. Yes, they said, it is actually cheaper for us to ship the peaches to Thailand and back for packaging then to just package the peaches in the US.
A child can see how harmful free tradei s to the USA.
They have removed the requirement that these meats be labeled as such. They can still be labeled but Uncle Sam cannot compel the labels to be used.
If the American food producers are smart, they will continue to voluntarily label their products' country of origin and/or production as "AMERICAN."
This could be turned into a great marketing opportunity with the Amercan congressional "lemon" made into "lemonade."
I wonder if foreign meat is responsible for the recent trend of terminal chewiness of much of the lower-price restaurants’ meat (I remarked in a previous thread). I have since discovered that pricier restaurants do not have chewing-gum meat—it’s just like it used to be. Possibly they are buying American only?
I thought that was normal, along with the scales and gills?
That is what I am hoping...and is what I would do if I were in their position.
Of course, the other shoe that will drop is the new USDA regulations that will provide stiff penalties for producers who do that. Just wait. It will come when some foreign a-hole starts bitching.
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