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US farmers and ranchers have launched a petition calling on President Donald Trump and the US congress to pass mandatory country of origin labelling for beef, pork and dairy products.
Over 250,000 people have signed the petition to date.
The farm organisation behind the petition, R-CALF USA, has said that origin labelling will “strengthen national food security and help stimulate economic growth”.
R-CALF USA member Kerry Cramton, a Kansas cattle producer who was instrumental in launching the petition, said the goal is to demonstrate to the president and congress that they have been deceived into believing that neither consumers nor cattle producers wanted a mandatory law to provide consumers information as to where their beef, pork and dairy products actually originate.
We are confident that most consumers will want US beef
“There is a handful of very powerful lobbying groups that have held the president and congress at bay on this critically important initiative and our petition clearly shows that our government has been misled.
“Consumers want to know where their beef is produced and they deserve the opportunity to support American ranchers by purchasing beef exclusively born, raised, and harvested in the United States,” Cramton added.
COVID-19
As the COVID-19 pandemic backs up US cattle due to processing plant slowdowns and shutdowns, leaving many American ranchers with no access to the marketplace, meatpackers continue to source cheaper foreign cattle to the detriment of US cattle producers, the association claims.
The US Department of Agriculture reported that during the last two weeks meatpackers sourced over 12,000 live cattle from Canada to be killed in the US.
“This is unconscionable,” said R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard, who said his group has members who “have not been able to get a bid for their cattle for the past five weeks.”
Exclusively
Bullard said if mandatory origin labelling was in place, consumers could immediately correct this situation by choosing to buy beef that is exclusively born, raised, and harvested in the US, which he said would help American ranchers.
Bullard said the labelling would also help consumers “avoid beef produced in foreign countries with ongoing animal disease problems and unknown animal husbandry practices”.
Imported meat
Bullard said there was a 22% surge in the combined volume of beef and cattle imports from mid-March to early April.
“While American ranchers are unable to access their own market, importers and meatpackers are increasing the volume of imported beef while simultaneously depriving US cattle farmers and ranchers access to their own markets.
“This has to stop and [mandatory labelling] will put the choice in consumers’ hands as to where they want their beef to be born, raised and harvested,” said Bullard. “We are confident that most consumers will want US beef.”
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