From 2013
Meat Industry Sues USDA, Saying Country-of-Origin Label Leads to Higher Costs
American meat groups have filed suit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture over its country-of-origin labeling rule, saying it does not address food safety and will lead to higher costs for consumers while bankrupting processing companies.
Eight groups representing the American and Canadian meat industries filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to block implementation of a mandatory country-of-origin labeling (COOL) rule. The rule, finalized by the USDA in May 2013, requires origin declaration for three meat production steps: born, raised and slaughtered. It also eliminates the ability to commingle products, which requires segregation of livestock and products in the supply chain.
On Thursday, the American Meat Institute, one of the plaintiffs, responded to claims that labels would help people make safe choices by knowing the origin of their food.
“At AMI food safety is our number one priority, but COOL doesn’t offer any food safety information to consumers,” the group said on its website. “USDA has made it very clear that COOL is not a food safety program, writing in 2009, ‘The COOL program is not a food safety program” and “COOL is a retail labeling program and as such does not provide a basis for addressing food safety’.”
The USDA has said the labeling requirement is a “consumer information program.”
Meat and poultry companies produce 90 billion pounds of products a year and 99.99 percent of these are consumed safely, the American Meat Institute says. The AMI says it is the nation’s oldest and largest trade association representing packers and processors of beef, pork, lamb, veal, turkey, and processed meat products. Its member companies account for more than 90 percent of U.S. output of these products, the group says.
It is never about what consumers want.
It tells us the meat wasn't processed in a filthy Chinese plant by TB ridden workers hacking and coughing without any hair covering or gloves...