Canada To Challenge COOL

Farm Progress reports that following his notification meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, Canadian International Trade Minister Stockwell Day said that Canada is filing a World Trade Organization complaint over country-of-origin labeling (COOL) on Canadian meat products exported to the U.S.

Day said Canada is objecting to provisions it considers damaging to Canada’s agriculture industry. The dispute revolves around labeling regulations that require U.S. producers to indicate the country of origin of food including cuts of beef, poultry, lamb, chicken and pork, plus fruits, vegetables, and some nuts. When the regulations were first announced, they were flexible and seemed to address Canadian concerns, Day said. But that changed when Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack asked meat packers to voluntarily comply with even stricter COOL rules detailing where an animal was born, raised and slaughtered.