WASHINGTON – New labeling rules that require certain fresh meat products to disclose their country of origin are losing steam in Washington.
The turnabout is being cheered by big agricultural companies like Minnesota-based Cargill Inc. but are a setback for cattle producers and pig farmers who had hoped the new labels would spur a "buy American" movement.
The latest blow against the labeling movement came Wednesday when a U.S. House agriculture panel voted to repeal country-of-origin labeling rules that made beef, pork and chicken producers and processors list where the animals used in their products were born, raised and slaughtered.
The vote came two days after the World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled that the labeling rules economically injured meat producers in Canada and Mexico. The ruling cleared the way to retaliatory tariffs against U.S. products exported to the two countries.
Advocates for farmers say the rules are aimed at providing consumers with more information to help shape buying decisions.
"Our members want to give people a choice," Minnesota Farmers Union President Doug Peterson told the Star Tribune.
At the same time, a repeal would be a win for companies like Cargill, which had opposed the rules through its leadership role in the American Meat Institute. The institute sued unsuccessfully to stop application of the rules arguing that forcing companies to keep track of where animals were born, raised and slaughtered was regulatory overreach.
The WTO ruling against so-called COOL requirements allowed the industry's corporate giants to prevail anyway.