PIERRE, S.D. (MITCHELLNOW) U.S. Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) launched a nationwide effort to support American farmers and ranchers by including Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling (MCOOL) in the 2024 Farm Bill.
As the deadline for the Farm Bill approaches on September 30, different policy frameworks have been unveiled by each party in both the House and the Senate, with the House framework already having passed through the House Agriculture Committee. Producers from South Dakota and across the nation have expressed strong support for including a MCOOL solution in the Farm Bill.
MCOOL was originally passed in the 2002 Farm Bill but then repealed in 2015 by Congress due to Canada and Mexico filing disputes with the World Trade Organization. A report done before the 2015 repeal showed 90% of consumers favored requiring food sellers to indicate on the package label the country of origin of fresh meat.
A majority of products imported into the United States must disclose the item’s country of origin to the consumer. Currently, country of origin labeling laws apply to agricultural food products like lamb, goat, chicken, venison, wild and farm-raised fish and shellfish, fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables, peanuts, pecans, macadamia nuts and ginseng.
Rounds is inviting Senate colleagues to join his letter to the Senate Agriculture Committee requesting that they add MCOOL to the framework for the 2024 Farm Bill. Rounds is also requesting that farm and ranch advocacy groups call on their Senators to join him in this effort. The deadline to sign the letter is June 24.
“It is past time to reinstate mandatory country of origin labeling for beef,” said Rounds. “U.S. farmers and ranchers work hard to produce high-quality products for their fellow Americans. They deserve to have their beef differentiated from foreign-made products. Consumers want to be able to purchase beef born, raised and processed in the United States without wondering if it’s secretly coming from a foreign country. I encourage my colleagues to join me in the fight to get MCOOL included in our next farm bill.”