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The Agriculture Department said this summer that meat imported from other countries and inspected in the United States will no longer carry USDA grade stamps. All meat now inspected in the United States, regardless of where it is produced, gets a USDA stamp as to its grade. The USDA said on its internet website it was changing the practice because of consumer confusion over origin of meat products. U.S. ranchers have sought the change, saying the USDA stamp serves as a form of advertising not meant for foreign meats. South Dakota's two Democratic Senators, Minority Leader Tom Daschle and Tim Johnson, urged President Clinton to direct the USDA to make the change. " American livestock producers must pay millions of dollars annually to various check-off programs to promote their industries," Daschle said. "Foreign producers are not required to pay into these funds, but still reap the benefits of increased demand for their products." Officials at the Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, R-CALF, applauded the decision but said the planned action affects only carcasses, not live animals imported to the United States and later slaughtered. Leo McDonnell Jr., chairman of R-CALF in Columbus, Mont., said Mexico and Canada export about two million live cattle a year to the United States. R-CALF said that those cattle should not be allowed to receive the stamp. |
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