Category: Cool

Country of origin labelling of beef in the U.S. seems to be an issue that never goes away entirely, even with settled trade disputes. The most recent move towards some form of COOL is gaining momentum in the U.S., though agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack has said any labelling must be trade compliant. Dennis Laycraft, executive… Read More

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has published a proposed rule with new regulatory requirements that will change which meat, poultry, and egg products may carry a voluntary “Product of USA” or “Made in the US” label. While voluntary, the change could potentially revive Canada and Mexico’s trade dispute with the U.S. over country-of-orgin labeling…. Read More

Dennis Laycraft, executive vice president of Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA), is on location at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) annual convention happening now at Houston, Texas. Laycraft is part of the Canadian contingent and is taking part in several meetings with his U.S. and Mexican counterparts, discussing country of origin labeling, sustainability, processing capacity, and… Read More

In November, John Barlow, MP for Foothills, was re-named to the position as the Conservatives’ shadow minister for agriculture. Among Barlow’s current priorities is the attention — or lack thereof — that country-of-origin labelling (COOL) is currently getting in Ottawa. As the conversations grow in strength with a bipartisan bill in the U.S. senate surrounding… Read More

Four U.S. senators are attempting to answer the call to fix “broken” cattle markets in the country, with new legislation to restore mandatory country of origin labelling. Greg Henderson of Drover’s says he’s not entirely sure how it’s going to work, as mCOOL, as it is called, was eliminated after a lengthy World Trade Organization… Read More

Four U.S. senators are pushing, once again, for some form of mandatory country-of-origin labelling (mCOOL) of beef. Earlier this week, on September 8, two Republican and two Democrat senators announced a bill entitled the American Beef Labeling Act, which would require the U.S. Trade Representative to develop World Trade Organization-compliant mCOOL within a year of the bill… Read More

Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) executive vice president Dennis Laycraft’s recent trip to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) convention in Nashville was a busy week. To start, Laycraft met with new leaders of organizations that frequent the convention, who were really appreciative that CCA made the effort to get down there. On Laycraft’s agenda of… Read More

The National Cattleman’s Beef Association (NCBA) wants to do away with the Product of the USA label on beef, saying the term could potentially be misleading to consumers. Kent Bacus, senior director of international trade and market access for NCBA, based out of Washington, D.C., explains that current rules state that beef product only has… Read More

Not only is Tom Vilsack set to return as U.S. secretary of agriculture, he’s also open to bringing back U.S. country-of-origin labelling (COOL) for beef and pork; but only if it doesn’t lead to retaliation from trading partners, such as Canada, under World Trade Organization (WTO) rules. Vilsack, who was ag secretary when the Obama… Read More

Beef industry leaders from Canada, United States, and Mexico are meeting in San Antonio, Texas this week at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) Cattle Industry Convention. Representatives from all three countries discussed the progress on ratifying the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. With Mexico and the U.S. ratifying the deal, Canada is the lone country left… Read More