| Boy oh boy. Tom Vilsack has really gone and done it. He's called for stricter voluntary labeling rules. Won't all of those businesses be pissed off at the "big government," "anti-business" Dems now. Oh, wait. Voluntary. Hmm. Guess nobody's feathers will be ruffled after all. No can someone tell me why the words "stricter" and "voluntary" are used together in a sentence?
The specific rule in question is COOL - Country of Origin Labeling. Bush issued a pitifully inadequate rule that is set to go into effect March 16, and the Obama administration committed to reviewing it before that date. Vilsack says that the Bush rules are inadequate, but he didn't want to start up a new round of rulemaking because he didn't want "a vacuum that would be created by the process."
So instead, Vilsack's just asking the meat industry nicely if it would please label each meat package with the country in which the animal was born, the country where it was raised, and the country where it was slaughtered. If the meat packers don't respond to Vilsack quickly, THEN he'll start making an actual rule.
Secretary Vilsack, the problem voluntary rules is that industry can voluntary comply until it doesn't want to anymore - and then there's no enforcement mechanism. Please don't make this a common strategy for the USDA under your watch.
More below... |
From the article...
"Substantially altered" foods are exempt from the law, but Vilsack said the Bush rule gave processors too much latitude in deciding that term. Vilsack said he would also reject an argument from the Canadian Cattlemen's Association that steak could be labeled as a U.S. product in cases when Canadian beef cattle is exported to the United States, slaughtered the next day, and therefore considered a "substantial change."
The Bush rule allows meat processors to co-mingle ground meat that has been processed within 60 days, but Vilsack said he has also asked the
meat processors to reduce the number of days to 10. Vilsack met with meat industry groups today and will talk with pro-labeling groups this
afternoon.
I hope Vilsack extends his ideas beyond just meat. If a bag of frozen peas and a bag of frozen carrots each require labeling, then why doesn't a bag of frozen peas AND carrots require labeling?? Because that's what the Bush law says. |
