U.S. reworks Country-of-Origin labelling

WASHINGTON — Ontario beef producers are cheering a ruling by the U.S. government that they believe exempts beef and pork from U.S. country-of-origin labelling.

Protectionist interests in the United States had effectively created a trade barrier with the highly controversial Country-of-Origin Labelling, referred to as COOL. But the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued a final ruling on COOL in a cumbersome 260-page document on Jan. 12.

The final ruling will allow for wiggle room on beef raised and and finished in Canada and sent to the United States for immediate slaughter. If those animals come in contact with U.S. cattle, then processors and retailers have the option to label the meat as a U.S.-Canada product.

"This is good news," said Athens beef farmer and Ontario Cattlemen’s Association director Kim Sytsma. "We’ve just had two years of hell."

She added that the weaker Canadian dollar should make Canadian cattle that much harder for American buyers to resist.

In the last six months of 2008, Canadian feeder cattle exports to the U.S. dropped 38 per cent to 187,866 head, while slaughter Canadian steers and heifers dropped 35 per cent to 262,929 head, Sytsma said.