Charges Dropped

Meatpackers and industry groups have lost ground in their push against U.S. Department of Agriculture rules that require country of origin (COOL) labels on meat products.

The North American Meat Institute and other trade organizations last week dropped their case in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against a USDA's labeling law that requires information about where meat was born, raised and slaughtered. The rule also prohibits mixing meat from different countries in one package.

The U.S. Cattlemen's Association, the National Farmer's Union and others have sided with the USDA, saying opponents have overblown the rule's estimated economic burden on companies.

Federal courts struck down three challenges to the law before the groups dropped the case. Multinational companies have led the charge against the rule, which affects trade between Canada and Mexico and the U.S.

In the most recent challenge, heard in the circuit appeals court in July 2014, the court rejected claims that the labels violate the companies' First Amendment right to withhold origin information.

Plan B

The end of the lawsuit does not mark the label law's last hurdle. Advocacy groups warn that meatpackers and retailers will likely lobby Congress to weaken or amend the existing law in their favor.

The World Trade Organization ruled last October that the label law violates U.S. trade rules between Canada and Mexico. Industry opponents plan to press Congress to alter the law to comply with the WTO's ruling, and Canada's Agriculture Minister met with members of U.S. agriculture committees in early February to push for changes to the rule.

"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. As Secretary 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 to fix COOL once and for all," NAMI President and CEO Barry Carpenter said in a statement following the dismissal.

Read More:

• Meat Industry Drops Challenge To Origin Labeling Rules (Law 360)
• Congress: Don't Mess With Meat Labels (Food and Water Watch)
• COOL Lawsuit Dropped (AgWeek)