Say added cost will be passed on to consumers.
Texas livestock producers say they're being bullied by the feds who want stricter labeling on beef. The USDA is forcing producers to separating animals not only by a country of origin label (COOL), but where they were born, raised and slaughtered as well.
Eldon White at the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association calls it an unfunded mandate.
“Its something the government is imposing on the industry,” White tells KTRH News. “And we see no real benefit to it, we see only additional costs associated with it.”
White says all this adds up to higher costs for producers which will ultimately be passed down to consumers.
“As a result, we might see some tariffs being placed on beef heading into Canada and Mexico,” he says.
The new rules would put the U.S. in compliance with a 2012 ruling that found COOL requirements for certain meat commodities discriminated against Canadian and Mexican livestock imports and thus were inconsistent with the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade.
“At one point in time, when the country of origin label was first implemented a few years ago, cattle coming from Mexico received as much as $60-70 less per head because of the additional record keeping requirements associated with handling that cattle,” he says.
