Why shouldn’t steak be labeled like toys and clothing?

It seems we have labels on most everything we buy in this country informing us where the product came from.

Made in China. Made in Thailand. Even the elusive Made in the U.S.A. label.

How we choose to spend our dollars is up to us, but most people agree that we want to know what country a product came from.

Over 10 years of polling data demonstrates that consumers overwhelmingly support COOL. Thanks to the Country of Origin Labeling law, or COOL, we can see what country produced our strawberries, our shellfish or our steak, for example.

If certain interests have their way, we will no longer know what country our steaks and pork chops come from. COOL is under attack.

Canada and Mexico have taken action through the World Trade Organization (WTO) crying foul on our labeling law. Canadian cattle producers are claiming losses to their industry as U.S. meatpackers deem Canadian beef less desirable due to the costs associated with segregating cattle to be slaughtered in order to preserve identity. (Losses yet to be proved, as there is disputing data on the figures.)

The “price penalties” that Canada and Mexico allege for the beef and pork producers are at the sole discretion of the same multinational meatpackers who have been trying to dismantle COOL since it first passed in the 2002 Farm Bill.

Animals are already tracked closely from birth through sale to consumer for food safety reasons, and segregated at the packing plant for a variety of other reasons.

I recently returned from a whirlwind fly-in to Washington, D.C., sponsored by the National Farmers Union in conjunction with the U.S. Cattlemen’s Association to voice support for COOL (Country of Origin Labeling).

Union members were placed onto teams — Iowa with Hawaii in our case.

We were basically asking Congress to do what they do best — nothing.

Leave COOL alone.

There is no reason for Congress to act prior to the process playing out at the WTO. They have at least until the end of summer to decide on a trade-compliant version that keeps COOL in tact.

As many as 60 WTO member countries have mandatory labeling laws in place for food, so we should be able to find an acceptable template that the U.S. can follow without getting sued by our trading partners. By passing a COOL repeal bill now, Congress is selling out U.S. consumers and undermining the U.S. negotiating position at the WTO in an unprecedented and incredibly harmful way.

So why would our elected officials vote to repeal COOL?

When asked this question, several of the offices we spoke with cited political pressure. Markedly influenced by Canada, who is threatening to impose targeted punitive tariffs on specific lawmakers state’s products.

They cite pressure from various corporate and industry groups — but missing is the pressure from the American public.

While the offices were quick to agree with polling data that shows the American people overwhelmingly desire to know from what country their food comes, they aren’t hearing much about it directly. Unfortunately, it seems to be a “what they don’t know won’t hurt them” mentality when it comes to the citizens. When I “gently” reminded one of our representatives that he, indeed, was hired by the American public to do the peoples work — not just that of the corporate world — he softened and admitted that “sometimes, we forget that here, and we need to be reminded.”

That is our duty as the electorate.

First off, we need to vote. Secondly, these folks need to hear from us. Remind them who they are working for. I asked Sen. Grassley’s office how many calls or emails the senator needed to know that folks care about keeping COOL. The answer: “Only 20 or so would go a long way in keeping us informed as to what the voters want. We need to hear from people.”

I asked how many they’d received from constituents — none (as of May 19).

Unless we want multinational corporations and foreign governments telling U.S. consumers what we can and cannot know about the food we are eating, we have to take a stand in support of COOL now.
Nicole Friess Schilling is a lifelong Greene County resident and farmer.

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