FMI Wants Legislative Solution to Meat Label Dispute

Agreeing with the World Trade Organization's (WTO) compliance panel report, Andrew Harig, director of government relations at Arlington, Va.-based Food Marketing Institute (FMI), said that Congress must step in and resolve the United States' dispute with Mexico and Canada over the U.S. country-of-origin-labeling law (COOL) in regard to meat.

Calling the panel’s findings "no surprise," Harig noted that they "mirror many of the concerns that FMI and its partners up and down the supply chain have raised about COOL and the 2013 regulatory revisions."

Added Harig: "The WTO decision makes it clear that there are problems with the law that only Congress can address. Rather than continuing to 'run out the clock' on the WTO process, we urge Congress to act as expeditiously as possible to bring the law into compliance with our trade commitments and put an end to the threat of tariffs by Canada and Mexico on U.S. exports."

Harig pledged that the trade organization would work with lawmakers on a legislative solution to the dispute.