By Bruce Cochrane
The chair of the Canadian Pork Council is applauding all who played a role in bringing about repeal of provisions of Mandatory Country of Origin Labelling pertaining to pork and beef.
The U.S. Agriculture Secretary has announced the U.S. Department of Agriculture will no longer enforce Mandatory Country of Origin Labelling for pork and beef and will amend the regulations as expeditiously as possible following passage of a $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill, which includes repeal of those provisions.
Rick Bergmann, the chair of the Canadian Pork Council, praises those who played a role in bringing about repeal.
Rick Bergmann-Canadian Pork Council:
First of all within Canada here I really applaud the two governments that have been in power during that timeline of COOL.
Members from those different parties have really contributed on the government side.
That would have also been a good motivator for us as well to know that we've got a very strong team spirit in moving forward in a COOL resolve.
In the United States we've got many many allies that, over the course of the last years, have really spoken up to the ability or the need to dissolve or repeal the Country of Origin Labelling.
The Canadian Pork Council and National Pork Producers Council have a very strong working relationship.
We understand that we have so much in common and we also understand that trade is vital for each country.
They've been huge allies in this, some processing plants and many other who really recognize that COOL is something that just needed to go away.
We're very pleased with the working relationship that we've had with people, not only in Canada, government and so on, but also in the United States.
Bergman says Country of Origin Labelling has been a big burden for Canadian livestock producers and everyone is very pleased that this is behind us.
Source: Farmscape