The House Agriculture Committee approved a bill to amend the Agriculture Marketing Act of 1946 and repeal the Country of Origin Labeling law for beef, pork and chicken, while leaving requirements for other covered commodities intact.
Chairman Mike Conaway says this bill does what is necessary to avoid retaliation by Canada and Mexico.
Conaway appreciates the bipartisan support of the legislation and says they will continue working to get the bill to the House floor as quickly as possible to ensure the U.S. economy doesn’t suffer implications of retaliation.
House Ag Ranking Member Collin Peterson would prefer Congress take a look at the requirements in place in more than 60 other countries.
He points to the European Union labeling laws that require indication of the country of birth, fattening and slaughter.
If information is not available, imported beef can be labeled as non-EU.
Peterson says there are distinctions between the EU requirement and what the U.S. tried to do with COOL, but he thinks it’s worth looking at to see if a workable North American solution is possible.
