Beef, pork sectors oppose U.S. labelling plan

Canadian beef and pork producers want Ottawa to step up its opposition to a United States plan to place country of origin labels and tracking rules on their meat products.

The Canadian Cattleman's Association and the Canadian Pork Council say the labelling plan would costtheir industries more than$500 million a year and would violate North American Free Trade Agreement and World Trade Organization rules.

The proposed country of origin labelling, to become effective in September, would force U.S. importers of Canadian cattle and pigs to slaughter them separately from U.S. animals and package the meat with a sticker reading "From Canada and the United States." Meat from animals born, raised and processed in the United States would be labelled "Product of the U.S.A."

The Canadian producers fear their American partners, such as slaughter facilities and supermarkets, won't want the extra hassle and will stop buying Canadian animals.

"We believe very strongly that this violates the United States' trade obligations to Canada," said Canadian Cattlemen's Association spokesman John Masswohl.

The groups are calling on Ottawa to lobby U.S. senators to try to stop the proposed law from passing. The federal government cannot launch an official challenge until the law goes into force.

"We have asked them to signal very strongly and turn up the volume indicating that the government of Canada believes that this is a violation of those agreements," Masswohl said. "All they have said at this point is that they are examining the issue."

Martin Rice, the executive director of the Canadian Pork Council, said it would be better for Ottawa to head off the law rather than to fight it as a trade dispute after the fact. He said to fight it afterwards could take years.

"They should be doing it over the next couple of weeks," Rice said. "This is a disaster. We are in a perfect storm of challenging circumstances for our industry."

"Many people in the U.S. industry that support this legislation have acknowledged that there is not any food safety reason for this labelling regulation it is simply to make it harder for people to purchase products from other than U.S. sources," Rice said.

Agriculture Canada officials were not available for comment. The government has written the U.S. government to formally oppose the plan.

"Mandatory labelling is not in the best interests of the U.S. nor of its closest trading partners," the submission read.

Masswohl said currentefforts are not enough. "They (federal officials) tell us that this is an important issue, they recognize its importance and they have spoken to their counterparts about it," he said. "We think they need to do more."