BILLINGS, Mont. – On Wednesday, U.S. Senators Jon Tester (D-MT) and Mike Rounds (R-SD) introduced yet a second resolution regarding Mandatory Country-of-Origin Labeling (M-COOL) for beef. R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard said his organization has been working aggressively to find members of Congress willing to introduce new M-COOL legislation and is disappointed in today’s resolution.
In late April, with the help of Cowboys for Trump and grassroots rancher-members of R-CALF USA, R-CALF USA launched a petition drive at www.DemandUSABeef.com calling on Congress and President Trump to immediately pass Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling (M-COOL) for beef, pork and dairy products to strengthen America’s food security interests and help stimulate economic growth.
“Currently over 375K petitioners have urged Congress and the President to pass new M-COOL legislation as an essential response to this ongoing crisis,” said Bullard.
Bullard pointed out that during this COVID-19 crisis, while American cattle ranchers are being denied access to their own markets and have been for several weeks, packers and other importers are continuing to import tens of thousands of foreign cattle into the U.S. each week from Canada and Mexico. And, he said the beef from these foreign cattle is then deceptively sold to American consumers as if it was produced by hard-working American cattle farmers and ranchers.
“It’s unconscionable for the U.S. to allow foreign cattle to displace American cattle producers’ access to their own domestic market and only with M-COOL can consumers begin supporting the American food supply chain by choosing to buy beef that is exclusively born, raised and harvested in the United States,” he commented.
Bullard said the resolution filed today will not provide U.S. cattle producers any relief from the rising tide of imported cattle and beef arriving from about 20 foreign countries.
