On March 12th, the Agriculture Marketing Service (AMS) published a proposed rule to amend the Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) regulations. AMS issued this proposal as a result of a World Trade Organization (WTO) ruling that the current U.S. COOL requirements for muscle cut meat discriminated against Canadian and Mexican imports in that the requirements were different for imported and domestic products. The United States has until May 23, 2013, to come into compliance with the WTO ruling.
The proposal would change the COOL labeling requirement for retail labels of muscle cut meat; specifically, it would mandate that the label identify the country or countries where each production step of birth, raising and slaughter of the animal took place, including the United States.