Carpenter, who now is chief lobbyist for the U.S.
meat-packing industry, told Meatingplace Magazine that he hopes the U.S. will
finally give up on COOL, now that the World Trade Organization has ruled
against it for a fourth time.
Carpenter told Meatingplace “you really want me to
tell you about COOL? It’s been a disaster from Day One.
“It’s an example of what doesn’t work
when it isn’t market-driven.
“Basically [USDA] … took a set of information no
one was clamoring for and no one was willing to pay for and forced it on the
industry, adding millions in cost with no value at all.”
COOL cost Canadian cattle and hog
farmers more than $1 billion a year in depressed prices because U.S. packers
were reluctant to buy Canadian livestock whose meat had to be segregated
throughout processing for accurate labelling.
It also cost the Canadian Cattlemen’s
Association and the Canadian Pork Council hundreds of thousands of dollars in
legal and consulting fees to join the federal government and Mexico in the
World Trade actions against COOL.
