Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling of Beef, Lamb, Pork, Fish, Perishable Agricultural Commodities, and Peanuts

September 30, 2008 Country of Origin Labeling Program Desk Officer for Agriculture Room 2607-S Office of Information and Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS)Regulatory Affairs United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)Office of Management and Budget STOP 0254 New Executive Office Building 1400 Independence Avenue, SW725 17th Street, NW, Room 725 Washington, DC 20250-0254Washington, DC 20503 RE: Docket No. AMS-LS-07-0081 Interim Final Rule: Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling of Beef, Pork, Lamb, Chicken, Goat, Meat, Perishable Agricultural Commodities, Peanuts, Pecans, Ginseng, and Macadamia Nuts The National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) appreciates this opportunity to provide comments with regard to the interim final rule on mandatory country of origin labeling (COOL) for beef and other products (Federal Register Notice – August 1, 2008). NCBA is the nation's oldest and largest trade association for cattle producers and represents over 247,000 cattle producers through direct membership and our state and breed affiliates. Taking into account current law and its interpretation by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), NCBA offers the following thoughts: First and foremost, NCBA wants to reiterate that COOL is NOT a food safety tool. COOL is simply a marketing tool and the addition of a country-of- origin label does not make beef any more or less safe than it would otherwise be. The beef industry has worked for years to develop livestock production practices, product handling procedures, and industry-wide food safety initiatives to keep the beef supply safe. These innovations, along with effective government regulation, provide multiple firewalls that keep our beef safe. In addition, NCBA has worked diligently to educate our producer- members on the production practices that can be put in place to help protect our beef supply, and we have joined with government and retailers in educating the consumer on proper handling and cooking procedures that keep their family healthy and safe. With this in mind, we ask that USDA make it clear in the final rule that any violation of COOL, such as mislabeling of product, will not result in a Federal meat recall. Meat recalls are effective tools at alerting consumers about potential beef safety issues. The mislabeling of the country-of-origin has absolutely no impact on the safety of the beef, and therefore, should not result in a recall. The use of a recall for mislabeled country-of-origin could lessen its effectiveness in the event of a true product recall. Once again, we urge you to clearly spell out in the final rule that any mislabeling of beef under COOL will not trigger any category of beef recall. Next we want to address the issue of visual inspection of cattle in making an origin determination. The interim final rule makes it clear that "...slaughtering animals that are part of a NAIS compliant system or other recognized official identification system (e.g., Canadian official system, Mexico official system) may also rely on the presence of an official ear tag and/or the presence of any accompanying animal markings (i.e., "CAN", "M") as applicable on which to base their origin claims. This provision also applies to such animals officially identified as a group lot." NCBA supports USDA's position to allow the visual inspection of these markings as a way to determine origin. NCBA is aware that the United States is currently only importing live cattle from Canada and Mexico. In the case of Canadian cattle, each animal that crosses the border has a "CAN" marking required by USDA regulation in addition to the Canadian Cattle Identification Agency tag required for every head of cattle in Canada. In regards to Mexico, each animal that crosses the border has an "M" marking in addition to metal ear tags placed on the animals by USDA inspectors. Along with sales papers, healt…