Unlike most products, agricultural products are not labeled with their country of origin.  The 2002 Farm Bill attempted to cure this problem by mandating Country of Origin Labeling (COOL).   The law allows food to bear a “U.S.” origin label only if the meat is wholly from animals born, raised, and slaughtered exclusively in the U.S.  Implementation of the law has been delayed until 2008.

The law forbids the USDA from using a mandatory animal identification system to implement COOL (7 U.S.C. 1638a(f)).  Section 121 of the draft 2007 Farm Bill would repeal this prohibition. The Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance opposes this change in the COOL law.

COOL can and should be implemented without a mandatory animal identification system, such as the National Animal Identification System (NAIS).  COOL requires simply identifying imported animals when they cross the border, and then tracking the meat from these animals after slaughter in order to allow accurate labeling.  Cattle imported from Canada and Mexico are already required to be branded or arrive in sealed conveyances for health and safety reasons, and COOL only requires that the information about these imports be provided to the consumer.  Imported food (as opposed to live animals) can be easily labeled at the point of entry with its country of origin.

In contrast, NAIS would require that anyone who owns even a single livestock animal register their property with the government, individually identify each animal, and track their movements prior to slaughter.  This would include people who raise animals for companionship or for their own food, as well as the growing number of farmers who raise animals for a local market.   NAIS would impose significant monetary and labor burdens on ranchers who raise entirely domestic herds of livestock, none of which would need individual identification for purposes of COOL.  Based on estimates from other countries, the costs of NAIS could run anywhere from $37 to $69 per animal on average, which does not fully capture the cost to smaller producers.  With over a hundred million cattle and millions of other livestock animals in the United States, the NAIS will likely cost producers, businesses, and taxpayers tens of billions of dollars. 

The effects of COOL and NAIS are fundamentally at odds with each other.  COOL is about providing information so that consumers can choose whether to buy domestic or foreign products and, as a hoped-for result, providing American farmers and ranchers with economic rewards for raising food in this country.  In contrast, NAIS was designed by large, corporate agriculture to improve the export market.  The goal of these companies is to continue importing cheap, foreign food to sell to Americans, while exporting high-quality American products to Asia and Europe where it demands a higher premium.  Rather than sharing the profits with the farmers through premiums in a voluntary, market-driven program, the companies seek to have the government mandate the program.

If NAIS is implemented, many American farmers and ranchers will be driven out of business, and our agricultural production will be further consolidated in the hands of large corporations, making our food supply more vulnerable to disruption and tampering.  Yet, with COOL in place, consumers would be fooled into believing that they were supporting American farmers and ranchers through the “Made in the USA” label.  NAIS is not necessary for COOL, and the current statutory prohibition on using mandatory animal identification to implement COOL should not be changed.

For more information, contact the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance at 866-687-6452 or info@farmandranchfreedom.org.