Des Moines Register
07-21-07
Deal reached to list meat origins
Approval by Congress would settle contentious agriculture issue
By PHILIP BRASHER
REGISTER WASHINGTON BUREAU
Washington, D.C. - Starting next fall, grocery shoppers could find out what
countries their pork chops, steaks and ground beef came from, under a deal
worked out by the meat industry.
One possible result: Most beef in supermarkets will carry the American label,
said John Lawrence, an agricultural economist at Iowa State University.
Meatpackers may opt to send beef from cattle born in Mexico to restaurants,
which are exempt from the labeling law, and reserve U.S. beef for supermarkets,
he said.
Lawrence said it's too soon to tell whether the labeling requirements will increase
food prices or boost the prices received by producers.
Congress passed a labeling law in 2002, but its implementation was delayed for
all but seafood because of objections by meatpackers, retailers and some
producers. The industry agreement, negotiated under pressure from lawmakers,
will be part of a farm bill that the full House will vote on as early as next week.
Seafood has been labeled with the country of origin for two years now without
any significant impact on sales, according to industry officials.
Country-of-origin labeling "does not really register" with shoppers, said Stacey
Viera, a spokeswoman for the National Fisheries Institute. "They might say it
does, but intent and practice are two different things."
Still to be worked out by lawmakers is labeling for fresh fruits and vegetables,
which also were covered by the 2002 law. The House committee wants the
produce industry to reach an agreement before the House votes on the farm bill.
Key to the deal was a method for labeling pork from pigs born in Canada that are
fattened on corn in Iowa and other states, and for beef from Mexican- or
Canadian-born calves.
Under the agreement, those products would be labeled as a product of the
United States and Canada or a product of the United States and Mexico.
Similarly, packages of ground beef would have to list all the countries of the
cattle that went into the product. Such a label might say: "Contains beef from
Australia, Mexico, Argentina and the United States."
U.S. ground beef is often mixed with leaner beef from other countries to produce
the lower-fat products favored by some consumers.
Only beef and pork from animals born, raised and slaughtered in the United
States would be labeled as a solely U.S. product.
The labeling agreement, which would also have to be approved by the Senate,
would end one of the more contentious issues in agriculture.
"Somebody needs to be recognized as really doing a good job for figuring this
out. I think this is something we can live with," said Eugene Ver Steeg of Inwood,
former president of the Iowa Pork Producers Association.
Steeg doesn't import Canadian pigs, but he said Iowa-produced pork is likely to
carry the combined U.S.-Canada label so that farms and packers don't have to
segregate U.S. and Canadian-born hogs.
Canada has become a major source of young pigs for Iowa farms that fatten
hogs on the state's abundant corn supplies. Iowa imported 3.6 million Canadianborn pigs last year, up from 1.4 million in 2001.
The agreement on meat labeling also reduces penalties and paperwork
requirements in the law.
"There needed to be far more flexibility in the current law to accommodate the
various ways that we process meat in this country," said Rep. Bob Goodlatte of
Virginia, the senior Republican on the House Agriculture Committee.
Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Ia., praised the deal. "The (U.S. Department of Agriculture)
should now move forward and implement a common-sense and workable rule for
the industry," he said.
The meat industry's agreement was negotiated behind closed doors at the
direction of the House committee's chairman, Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn. Just
two people were in the room: Tom Buis, the president of the National Farmers
Union, and Randy Randall, a lobbyist for meatpackers.
The United States imported 2.3 million cattle last year and 3 billion pounds of
beef, according to the USDA. Some 8.8 million hogs were imported and 990
million pounds of pork. All the hogs and most of the pork came from Canada.
Reporter Philip Brasher can be reached at (202) 906-8138 or
pbrasher@dmreg.com