NCBA Looking To Engage USDA On Labels

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association is seeking dialogue with the Department of Ag on Product of USA Labels.  A recent petition to USDA asks the Food Safety and Inspection Service to change how the labels are treated in a way NCBA says would return the U.S. to mandatory Country-of-Origin labeling.  Ethan Lane, NCBA vice president of governmental affairs, said a special task force of cattlemen and NCBA staff have been studying the product of USA labeling issue for several months.

“What we’ve been looking into in response to these producer concerns is what the score of use is, what the approval process looks like what do those benchmarks look like in order to be able to use a label like that and is this an area we need to get into to ensure we’re protecting our producers, from this label being applied in a way that’s not in keeping with consumers might be looking for or what we want to see in labeling this product.”

Lane added cattle producers have met several times on the issue, and they are ready to engage FSIS about these labels that say 'Product of the USA' that may or may not be actual products of the United States.

“There’s a lot of ambiguity in this space.  We don’t think anyone is doing anything wrong.  We don’t think anyone is violating the law or violating regulations, that’s an important place to start this conversation, this isn’t about pointing the finger at anybody.  This about a system that’s probably gotten to a point where we need to get involved and work through that whole value chain to provide some clarity and ensure that we don’t have labels in a way that doesn’t work for our producer.”

According to Lane a petition by a U.S. Cattlemen’s Association would trigger World Trade Organization retaliations.

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