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AAM: salmonella jalapeños point to critical need for COOLLarry Matlack, President of the American Agricultural Movement, said that the recent discovery of tainted jalapeños coming into the United States at the port of entry at McAllen, Texas, is yet another reason that congressionally mandated country-of-origin labeling on all perishable vegetables is so critical to the safety of the nation's consumers. "In February 1978, hundreds of farmers protested unlabeled and falsely labeled produce coming across the bridge at McAllen," explained Matlack. "We had been working on passing laws that required COOL since AAM's inception, but in McAllen, Texas our farmers showed their resolve when hundreds were arrested and dozens brutally beaten on that bridge. A few sustained permanent disabilities and even brain damage from the beatings they took on that bridge. AAM was that committed to COOL thirty years ago and we still are today." Until 2002, only frozen fruits and vegetables were required to be labeled as to the country of origin. The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 finally required that retailers to inform consumers of the country of origin for the muscle cuts of beef, lamb, and pork; ground beef, ground lamb, and ground pork; farm-raised fish and shellfish; wild fish and shellfish; peanuts and perishable agricultural commodities such as fresh fruits and vegetables. "But our administration refused to implement COOL and Congress refused to finance implementation of COOL," said Matlack. "That's why it took the 2008 farm bill, passed into law over the President's veto, to finally require that these products be labeled as to their country of origin. The nation still awaits USDA's implementation of COOL today. I hope they enforce the law before anyone else is sickened or dies simply because they could not determine where their family's food came from." 8/11/08 Date: 8/5/08
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