World Trade Organization rules against source of meat labelling requirements

Nation of Change - The World Trade Organization finally issued a decision in the challenge made by Mexico and Canada to the U.S.’s country-of-origin labeling rules  (COOL) for meat. And environmental and food safety groups are hopping mad, as WTO upheld the contention made by those countries, supported by multi-national meat packers, that the rules unfairly impede global trade.

The current U.S. rules, which went into effect in 2013, require that meat sold in groceries be labeled to show separately where the animal was born, raised and slaughtered. The WTO’s ruling agrees that those regulations unfairly discriminate against imported meat to give an unfair edge to domestic products. In the ongoing dispute, then-Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack suggested last November that WTO should resolve the dispute and that the U.S. would abide by what the WTO decided.