Country of Origin Labeling a Top Issue for Congresswoman

by David Bowser

Idaho Congresswoman Helen Chenoweth said one of the biggest issues she's been involved in this last term was country of origin meat labeling.

"When I found out that about 20 percent of all meat and muscle cuts comes from foreign countries, I began to realize that this was something that I should involve myself in very heavily," she said.

There are 1.3 million live cattle coming out of Canada, slaughtered in the United States and sold as U.S. product. The way country of origin law as it presently stands is that when the form of a product is substantially changed it becomes a U.S. product.

"While you have Australian beef coming in, you get a U.S. hot dog or U.S. hamburger," said Clark Willingham, president of the NCBA.

When Canadian cattle come across the border and are slaughtered in the U.S., they become U.S. beef. They are graded by the USDA, Willingham said, and the consumer thinks they are buying beef grown in the U.S. That is why, he said, the NCBA is in favor of country of origin labeling.

Although there were some differences in how to approach the problem, both Willingham and Chenoweth agreed that country of origin labeling is important to the U.S. beef industry when they addressed New Mexico cattle growers in December.

Chenoweth said imported meat comes from Mexico, Canada, Argentina, New Zealand, Australia, Uruguay, Croatia, Dominican Republic, France, Germany, Hungry, Ireland, Italy, Korea, the Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom, Belgium, Austria, Costa Rica, Poland, Spain and Switzerland.

The Idaho Congresswoman introduced a bill in the House of Representatives to require labeling the origin of imported meat, but it was killed in a conference committee with the Senate, where another bill had been introduced by Sen. Larry Craig from Idaho.

Chenoweth said packers hired former Secretary of Agriculture Clay Miller, former head of the Republican National Committee Haley Barbor and former head of the Republican Conference in the House of Representatives Bob Michael to lobby against the country of origin labeling bill.

"They brought in three of the biggest guns you've ever seen in your life to defeat country of origin meat labeling," she said. "The only way we're going to get this is by telling it like it is, and naming the fact that there are people who are not interested in seeing us succeed with country of origin meat labeling because they make a whole lot of profit by bringing in cull cows and other meat that is not labeled from foreign countries.'

Willingham agreed that the livestock industry got out lobbied.

"All the packers lobbied it," he said. "The packers' unions lobbied it. The truckers lobbied it. The hot dog manufacturers, the retailers, the governments of Australia, New Zealand and Canada all lobbied against it. We didn't have anybody other than the Farmers Union, Farm Bureau, cattlemen and sheep producers who were up there supporting it."

Not even the consumers supported it.

"Now, we did a study in the first week of November that found that 78 percent of U.S. consumers would support U.S. products," Willingham said. "We gave that to Mrs. Chenoweth and that will help."

Chenoweth said the poll showed 86 percent of the women endorsed country of origin meat labeling.

"I've taken my own poll. Where ever I go, I take my own poll on country of origin meat labeling. Over and over again, I have men and women say they will pay more if they knew for sure that they were getting beef or lamb or pork that has been grown in America."

Chenoweth said she would introduce a country of origin meat labeling bill again the first day of the next session.

"This time we're going to win," she said. "This will be my biggest issue."

Idaho Congresswoman Helen Chenoworth will sponsor a country of origin labeling bill in the new Congress along with Sen. Craig.

"The new chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, fortunately, is going to be Larry Combest from Lubbock, Tex.," Willingham said. "He has already said he would hold hearings on country of origin labeling."

Chenoweth said she would work with Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman, who endorses country of origin labeling, although he does not want to go as far as she does.

"I believe we should also include it in mixed meats," Chenoweth said. "You know McDonald's wants to be able to label their hamburger as American grown beef? USDA regulations won't allow them too."

NCBA origin of country labeling policy calls for labeling the country of origin of muscle cuts, Willingham said. Hamburger and processed meats would be labeled foreign or imported. The specific country would not be required for hamburger or processed meats, but it would have to be labeled foreign beef.

"The reason for that is a compromise to get it passed," Willingham said.

He says that in the processing industry, they change the mix about every 20 minutes.

"It's really difficult to change the label every 20 minutes," Willingham said. New Mexico Cattle Growers marketing committee wants hamburger to be labeled by percentage of break down, 20 percent Canadian, 14 percent Australian, and so forth. Willingham said that would be impractical.

When grocery associations and packers say it's going to cost $20 million to $30 million to label food, Chenoweth said, that's about 20 cents per consumer in America.

"I think we can handle it," she said. "I think the consumers need to be asked the question why do we, by law, have to label the cars that we drive and the clothes that we put on our back. We even have to label the rawhide dog bones that we give our dogs. Yet we don't label the food we put in our bodies."

Chenoweth said that testimony at her hearing in Idaho indicated that less than two percent of the meat, fruits and vegetables that cross our borders are inspected.

"We have thousands and thousands and thousands of truck loads of live cattle coming in from Canada in sealed trucks," Chenoweth said.

She encouraged the governor of Idaho to have the trucks inspected.

When IBP meat packers shipped E. Coli tainted beef to Korea last year, Korea's labeling laws helped resolve the problem by identifying the origin of the meat. They then quickly identified, isolated and resolved the issue, Chenoweth said.

"If Korea can do it, why can't we?" she asked. "New Zealand already requires the muscle cuts be labeled as to the point of origin in the retail case. Japan requires that all meat imports be labeled by country of origin. Mexico is moving to tighten regulations governing the importation of beef.

"If Mexico can do it, why can't we just simply ask to have our red meat labeled as to the country of origin," she said. "You'll never find a Congressman who is more for free enterprise and let-the-consumer-make-a-wise-choice person than I am. Let the market place govern. There is morality in the market place. But our consumers have been twinkle-dusted. The truth has been hidden from them, and they have a right to know. I think it's very important that the cattlewomen from all over the nation and other women's organizations pull this together and make this a consumer demand."