Meat + Poultry - February 2009 - 12

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BUSINESS NOTES

CSB-System
CSB-System

Final COOL rule issued...but put on hold

I N T ER N A T 1 0 N A L

The Food
Industry
Software
Experts

Details of the final regulation for the mandatory Country-of-Origin Labeling program required by the 2002 and 2008 farm bills were announced by the United
States Department of Agriculture Jan. 12. The full text of the final rule was published in the Jan. 15, 2009 Federal Register.
The rule was to have become effective on March 16, but new White House
Chief of Staff Rahm Emanual issued a memo on Jan. 20 to federal agencies placing a "hold" on certain aspects of federal rulemaking until further review.
This included COOL.
Muscle cuts and ground beef, lamb,
chicken, goat and pork; wild and
farm-raised fish and shellfish; perishable agricultural commodities (specifically fresh and frozen fruits and
vegetables); macadamia nuts; pecans;
ginseng and peanuts are covered by
the rule. However, items derived from a covered commodity that has undergone
a physical or chemical change - including cooking, curing, or smoking - or that
has been combined with other covered commodities or other substantive food
components are excluded from country-of-origin labeling. Foodservice establishments are also exempt.
USDA iterated that commodities covered under COOL must be labeled at retail to identify its country of origin. Commodities are excluded from mandatory
COOL if the commodity is an ingredient in a processed food item. The definition of a processed food item remains unchanged from the Aug. 1, 2008, interim
final rule. The final rule outlines the requirements for labeling and commodities
and the record-keeping requirements for retailers and suppliers.
Specific criteria that must be met for a covered commodity to bear a "United
States country-of-origin" declaration are prescribed by the rule. The rule also
contains provisions for labeling covered commodities of foreign origin, meat
products from multiple origins, ground meat products, as well as commingled
covered commodities.

CSB-System software is written
especially for the food industry.
We know how complicated your
business is and the management
controls you must have to stay on
top of fast-changing market conditions. Wherever you are - slaughter
and packing, further processing,
warehousing and distribution - we
give you the right tools, right now.

CSB-System software
provides resources for:
s%NTERPRISE2ESOURCE0LANNING
s3UPPLY#HAIN-ANAGEMENT
s7AREHOUSE-ANAGEMENT
3YSTEMS
s3HOP
&LOOR3OLUTIONS
s9IELD/PTIMIZATION0RODUCT
#OSTING
s(!##0#ONTROL
s,IVESTOCK3OLUTIONS

U.S. red meat exports continue climbing
Seeing that pork was up 20 percent and beef increased 9 percent (including
variety meat) for November 2008 compared to November 2007, U.S. red-meat
exports continued their strong growth pace, according to the U.S. Meat Export Federation.
Pork and pork variety meat exports for the first 11 months of 2008 were 61
percent larger than 2007, approaching the 2 million metric ton mark (1,898,698
metric tons or 4.18 billion pounds). Pork exports from January through November 2008 months were valued at $4.5 billion, an increase of 59 percent.
Meanwhile, January through November U.S. beef exports increased 37 percent to 582,270 metric tons (1.28 billion pounds) with variety meat exports up
18 percent to 331,479 metric tons (730.8 million pounds). Total beef exports of
913,739 metric tons (2.01 billion pounds) were up 29 percent and valued at $3.37
billion, an increase of 40 percent. Beef exports for 2008 are on pace to reach
94 percent of the 2003 export value.
"As currencies and prices stabilize, inventories will decline and demand for
U.S. red meat will likely continue at a relatively strong level," said Erin Daley,
USMEF economist.

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MEAT&POULTRY

February 2009

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Meat + Poultry - February 2009

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