Mandatory Meat Labeling Could Be Pushed To 2008
Last updated Thursday, October 27, 2005 8:47 PM CDT in Business
By Shea Van Hoy
The Morning News
Meat processors such as Tyson Foods Inc. likely will not be forced to label where their products come from until 2008, under a joint recommendation from congressional appropriation committees.
Members of the Senate and House of Representatives reached agreement Thursday on the fiscal 2006 Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies Appropriations bill, a news release says.
Both chambers will vote on the recommendations, which include delaying mandatory country-of-origin labeling until Sept. 30, 2008.
The mandatory program was part of President Bush's 2002 Farm Bill and was supposed to begin in September 2004. Implementation was delayed because of a provision in the 2005 Agriculture Appropriations bill.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated the cost of mandatory labeling for beef and pork packers at more than $2.4 billion in the first year.
Springdale-based Tyson opposes a mandatory labeling program, citing the high costs, lack of consumer demand and the difficulty in tracking the origin of products, spokesman Gary Mickelson said.
"While we're pleased it has been delayed again, we still believe this measure should either be repealed or made permanently voluntary," Mickelson said in an e-mail.
Mandatory labeling is backed by some consumer groups and cattlemen organizations such as Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, United Stockgrowers of America.
"Our competitors will continue to have the upper hand, and the U.S. packing industry will continue to increase the importation of foreign beef, unknown to the U.S. consumer," said Danni Beer of the cattlemen's group in a release.
The joint committee "caved in to Tyson's pressure" when it adopted the country-of-origin delay, Beer said.
Consumer groups such as Americans for Country of Origin Labeling say costs for a mandatory program are overestimated, U.S. trading partners require labeling and it allows consumers to make better choices, according to the group's Web site.
The Senate on Nov. 6 voted 58 to 36 in support of an amendment introduced by Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., instructing House and Senate bill negotiators to preserve mandatory labeling, according to the Americans for Country of Origin Labeling Web site.
The American Meat Institute says mandatory labeling makes the beef and pork industries, two major components of Tyson's business, less competitive domestically and abroad.
"A voluntary program will ensure that U.S. meat products are not put at a competitive disadvantage by a program that consumers really don't want in the first place," J. Patrick Boyle, president and CEO of the trade group, has said.
A bipartisan bill to create a voluntary country-of-origin labeling program for meat was introduced in June by 15 U.S. Senators, including Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark.
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