Monday, February 9, 2015

U.S. meatpackers drop COOL lawsuits

Three strikes and they’re out.

The United States meatpackers have dropped their lawsuits against the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Country-of-Origin Labeling regultions after losing three court decisions.

Canada’s national organizations for beef and pork were parties to the lawsuits.

”While we remain disappointed with the court’s ruling on country of origin labeling (COOL), we agree with the World Trade Organization’s assessment that the U.S. rule is out of compliance with its trade obligations to Canada and Mexico,” North American Meat Institute president and chief executive officer Barry Carpenter wrote in an e-mail to Meatingplace Magazine.

“As [Agriculture] Secretary [Tom] Vilsack has said, a statutory fix is needed to bring the U.S. into compliance to avoid retaliatory tariffs, and we’re committed to working with Congress . . "