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Nebraska Farmers Union
opposes voluntary food labeling
"Voluntary country-of-origin labeling has been available for years, but the packers, processors and retailers have refused to participate. They had their chance to implement COOL voluntarily, and they blew it. There is simply too much economic self-interest on the part of the meat cartel to trust them to honestly and effectively label our food products. The meat processors and retailers make tons of money by blending cheaper priced and lower grade cuts with our domestic production. We simply cannot trust these coyotes to guard our chicken coupe."
--John K. Hansen, president Nebraska Farmers Union
Nebraska Farmers Union gave a cold reception to efforts by House Ag Committee leaders efforts to essentially kill mandatory Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) for certain food products. U.S. Reps. Bob Goodlatte, R-VA, and Charles Stenholm, D-TX, introduced legislation June 15 to repeal the mandatory country-of-origin labeling (COOL) provision passed as part of the 2002 farm bill.
Nebraska Farmers Union has been working to secure mandatory country-of-origin labeling since 1986. In the last 18 years, they thought they had seen the meat processors and retailer's use about every possible sleight of hand political trick in the book there is to avoid mandatory country-of-origin labeling. However, the latest tactics to claim support for voluntary country-of-origin labeling while repealing mandatory country-of-origin labeling is viewed as a new all time low.
"This is preposterous. Their so-called voluntary approach is nothing more than the political version of 'bait and switch'. It is fundamentally dishonest. In the first place, the meat cartel has never supported effective country-of-origin labeling, and their lack of participation in the past proves that. Their feigned support for voluntary COOL is nothing more than a ploy to kill mandatory COOL. After they have killed mandatory COOL, they will go back to their old ways, which is to ignore effective country-of-origin labeling. We all know that if stopping at highway stop signs were to become voluntary, it would not be long until stop signs would not mean stop, or even slow down. The same can be said for country-of-origin labeling," John K. Hansen, president of Nebraska Farmers Union, charged.
Nebraska Farmers Union is extremely frustrated with the Bush administration, and Secretary of Agriculture Anne Veneman's use of her administrative authority to sabotage country-of-origin food labeling implementation. "We knew the meat cartel had the ear of the Bush administration, but now we see they also have the ears of the chairman and ranking minority member of the House of Representatives Agriculture Committee. When Congress passes a farm bill, the administration is supposed to implement it as intended and written. That has not happened on the mandatory country-of-origin labeling provisions. This is not the way democracy is supposed to work," said John K. Hansen, president of Nebraska Farmers Union.
"Voluntary country-of-origin labeling has been available for years, but the packers, processors and retailers have refused to participate. They had their chance to implement COOL voluntarily, and they blew it. There is simply too much economic self-interest on the part of the meat cartel to trust them to honestly and effectively label our food products. The meat processors and retailers make tons of money by blending cheaper priced and lower grade cuts with our domestic production. We simply cannot trust these coyotes to guard our chicken coupe," Hansen said.
In January, National Farmers Union released the results of a national survey that shows 82 percent of consumers want country-of-origin information on their food and 85 percent would be more inclined to buy food produced in the United States. Poll after poll, including Nebraska polls, shows overwhelming support for mandatory country-of-origin labeling on the part of farmers and ranchers. "We are proud of the quality of the products we grow, and we want our customers to know we grew them," Hansen said.
"Unfortunately, without mandatory labeling, consumers have no way to distinguish U.S. quality products from imported products," Hansen said. According to the U.S. government, 11 percent of all food products consumed in the United States are imported. The Farmers Union leader said this trend continues to grow, yet U.S. producers continue to be denied the opportunity to differentiate their products to the final consumer.
Hansen said Farmers Union supports legislation that provides more constructive solutions to the concerns surrounding COOL such as: the Country-of-Origin Labeling Amendment Act of 2003 (HR 3083) introduced by Reps. Collin Peterson, D-MN, and Dennis Rehberg, R-MT; the Country-of-Origin Labeling Enhancement Act of 2004 (HR 3993) by Reps. Mary Bono, R-CA, and Darlene Hooley, D-OR; and legislation introduced in the Senate by Sen. Tom Daschle, D-SD, to repeal the two-year delay of mandatory COOL included in the omnibus spending bill.
Date: 6/23/04
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