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Passed into law with the 2002 Farm Bill, country-of-origin labeling (often referred to as COL or COOL) became mandatory Oct. 1, 2004. However, passage of Public Law 108-199 in 2004 and Public Law 109-97 in 2005 granted beef producers additional time to ready their systems, as implementation for beef was ultimately delayed until Sept. 30, 2008.
On July 27, 2007, the House of Representatives passed its version of the 2007 Farm Bill, which kept intact provisions for mandatory country-of-origin labeling, and on Dec. 14, 2007, the Senate passed its version, which also included mandatory labeling.

For the beef industry, there were several notable changes from the original 2002 language. Both versions establish three labeling categories for meat: U.S. origin, mixed origin and imported. The House version allows country of origin to be verified through existing documentation — such as normal business records, animal health papers, import or customs documents, or producer affidavits — thus alleviating the need for additional paperwork. In the Senate version a grandfather clause was added that considers animals to be of U.S. origin if they were here as of Jan. 1, 2008, and have remained here continuously. Producers will still need to maintain documentation of origin from birth to harvest from this point forward.

With both the Senate and the House bills setting Sept. 30, 2008, as the deadline for mandatory labeling to commence, some speculate that further delays for implementation are unlikely at this point. Both versions must now be reconciled by a conference committee to produce a single 2007 Farm Bill that will then be voted on by both chambers of Congress before heading to the Oval Office to be signed into law. It is worth noting that President Bush has threatened to veto the bill, citing budgeting concerns. Action is expected early in 2008, as the extension of the 2002 Farm Bill expires on March 15 and another extension will otherwise be needed.

Your information source

This is an emotionally charged issue, with vocal supporters and opponents. Whether you are for or against mandatory labeling, it is the law. It is not the purpose of this web site to take a stance on the issue, and posts don’t necessarily reflect the opinions of the American Angus Association or Angus Productions Inc. (API). Instead, we hope you’ll see this web site as a balanced source of information — including links to other industry web sites, news releases from both sides of the issue, recently published articles and dates of upcoming events — that will help you to make informed decisions and conform to the law.

This is a dynamic issue. We’ll update this site as new information comes to light. We invite you to sign up on the "Want Updates" page so we can e-mail you a notice when this site is updated.

If you know of a press release or an article that you feel would be valuable for other cattlemen to consider, please contact us.