New identification law shakes up U.S. flesh industry

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Bryan Karwal raises and sells 18,000 Canadian-born hogs a year on his Iowa farm, but a new food labeling law designed to aid consumers threatens that accountability because it has close away latchkey markets representing the hogs.

The law has also angered Canada and Mexico because, they say, it desire harm order representing their livestock and hogs. It has raised talk of a commerce warfare amongst the three countries.

The law, called COOL, was implemented hindmost month and requires that labels on supermarket packages of flesh and other foods listing all the countries where the food came from. The push representing such labels intensified after dairy products from China were tainted hindmost year with the chemical melamine.

To higher agree and to avoid firm fines representing labeling mistakes, U.S. beef and pork companies are either refusing or are segregating livestock and hogs born exterior of the United States.

This has reduced markets representing U.S. producers Karwal, as satisfactorily as representing producers in Canada and Mexico.

"Right now, the manner the place is, some of the packers said because of COOL they are thriving to position exterior Canadian pigs," said Karwal of Elliott, Iowa.

That desire go away him with lone a hardly places to container his hogs.

COOL stands representing Country-of-Origin-Labeling and applies to packages of new beef, pork, lamb, goat and chicken.

"Because of the worldwide market, people desire to grasp where their food comes from," said Carol Tucker-Foreman, a food approach authority representing the Consumer Federation of America, which pushed representing the law. "The place mark is some people desire to buy from American producers."

However, consumer groups conditions it is too beforehand to arrange if consumers are preferring U.S.-only foods.

Livestock producers and producing experts order consumers desire not anxiety and that the additional charge and handling desire harm the flesh industry. Plus, price, not country of origin, desire conduct purchasing decisions, they said.

"I fair believe retail customers are not thriving to care, so retailers are not thriving to care, so packers are not thriving to care, eventually," said Steve Meyer, economist representing the livestock consulting compact Paragon Economics.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N) the largest U.S. grocery chain, said that as extensive as flesh packages are correctly labeled it does not be obsessed a favourite concerning country of origin.

Beef and pork companies be obsessed been most abnormal close by the law because they buy livestock and hogs from producers, who in rotate may be obsessed bought them from someone else including Canadians or Mexicans, so paperwork is needed to safe country of origin.

U.S. chicken companies own their chickens from the eggs to the flesh case, so compliance has been completely easy.  The end.