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Thune and Tester sponsor mandatory COOL bill for beef

Two U.S. Senators have introduced a bill to reestablish mandatory country-of-origin labeling for beef.

Senators John Thune of South Dakota, a Republican, and Jon Tester of Montana, a Democrat, say they have reinserted “beef” and “ground beef” in the current so-called M-COOL law that requires country of origin labels for meat from chickens, sheep, goats and deer.

Their bill would delay implementation for Mandatory COOL for beef for up to 12 months after enactment to allow the U.S. Trade Representative and the U.S. Ag Secretary time to develop a way to do that in line with World Trade Organization rules. If not implemented after that one-year, the bill would take effect.

R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard says the senators’ bipartisan M-COOL bill for beef shows their responsiveness to cattle producers and consumers alike.