"country of orgin" labels...why did repukes vote against it and delay...

[ElsewheresDaughter]

its passage? more incompetence from bushco and Tommy Thompson
tried to warn us with his resignation speech.

http://www.aibonline.org/resources/bibliography/CountryofOriginsLabels.htm

Country of Origin Labeling

A Reference Resource List

Compiled by Emerson Library Staff

2003-2004

2003 Journal Citations:

Banasiak, Karen. “Group Calls For Voluntary Country-of-Origin Labeling.” (2004) Food Technology (58) 3:8.

Associations are calling for a plan to develop a program for providing country of origin labeling for produce, beef, pork, and seafood. The group is made of United Fruit and Vegetable Association, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, National Pork Producers Council, National Fisheries Institute, Food Marketing Institute, and National Grocers Association. Congress delayed the law until 2006.



“Country Labeling Delayed Two Years.” (2004) Food Processing (65) 2:14.

The Senate decided to delay the country of origin labeling rule by two years. This means that it will not go into effect for most foods until September 30, 2006. Farm-raised and wild-caught fish must start labeling September 30, 2004. Food and grocery associations were happy about the delay so that they can have time to repeal the law.



“Food Industry Chafes at Latest Plan for Country-of Origin Labeling Rules.” (2003: November 11) Milling & Baking News (82) 37: 37.

Food industry groups do not feel the USDA’s proposed country of origin labels are a good thing. The cost for implementing the labels is stabled to be $3.9 billion in the first year and could cost as much as $500 million annually according to estimates reported from the USDA. The final problem with the proposed rules would be the September 2004 implementation date.



Hagstrom, Jerry. “USDA Reportedly Preparing Beef Label for Japan Exports.” (2003) CongressDaily 7/14/2003:5.

Japan wants the U.S. to put country-of-origin labels on meat being imported into Japan to ensure that the meat did not come from Canada. The Agricultural Department is currently working on the plan to meet this demand. Canada recently found a cow with mad cow disease and Japan is worried about the disease being imported into its country. Japan gave the U.S. a deadline of September 1, 2003. By value, the U.S. is Japan’s top beef importer. The Bush administration is currently opposed to labeling meat with the country of origin. Meat producers are saying that this is impossible because of all the meat that they imported from Canada. The Agricultural Department is currently working on the entire situation.



Hecht, Chuck and Tim Aughenbaugh. “Verifying Product and Process Authenticity.” (2003) Food Technology (57) 6:32-36.

The difference between an Identity Preservation (IP) program and authenticity testing is that an IP program is designed to make sure that the production and process systems will deliver authentic material while authenticity testing is used to determine at the end of the line that a product label is accurate. The IP program and authenticity testing have created a new field called authenticity management. The Farm bill now requires retailers to provide country-of-origin labeling for all “covered commodities.” These include genetics, planting, growing, inspections, environment, harvest, storage, processing, and to the retailer. The retailer gets all of this information so that they can accurately display the country-of-origin information.



Joy, David. “Cool Reception for Country of Origin Labeling.” (2003) Food Processing (64) 11:17-18.

Country of Origin Labeling is not a new concept but the way it is being applied is new. Country of Origin Labeling is being required on certain food products and comes from the 2002 Farm Bill. There are exceptions to this rule such as foods that are natural products that are in their natural state are exempted such as vegetables, fruits, nuts, berries, live or dead animals. The rule does not apply to produce that is not packaged but produce that is packaged must have the country of origin label. Foods that go under substantial transformation are exempted also such as grapes that are made into jelly. The author believes that the reason to have the labeling requirement is to discriminate against imported goods. The bill does require that beef, lamb, pork, fish, peanuts, and perishable agricultural commodities have the country of origin labeling. This law applies to domestic and imported foods.






http://jeffmiller.house.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Issues.Detail&IsTextOnly=1&ISSUE_ID=19

[ClintonTyree]

1. 3.9 Billion in the first year.......................

to stick a label on foodstuufs? Yeah............ that sounds like the same people who tell us that unemployment is below 6%, or that tax cuts for the rich are actually helping the economy. Fuzzy math at it's finest.
Never mind that passage of this bill could save countless lives when terrorists finally get around to poisoning our food supplies. It WILL happen eventually. But we wouldn't want to inconvenience importer/exporters, would we? I wonder how much THEY gave to the Bush re-selection campaign?