Sask. government welcomes repeal of U.S. meat labeling law

The Saskatchewan Government is welcoming the news that country of origin labeling (COOL) is being repealed in the US.

A new bill has been introduced in Washington that does away with the meat labeling law.

COOL has been described as protectionist in allowing American pork and beef producers to have preferential treatment.

The law was seen as overly bureaucratic and complicated for the meat industry. Cattle from Mexico and Canada were divided in the processing plants and handled separately costing hundreds of millions of dollars.

Premier Brad Wall hopes this is a new beginning.

“The benefits will be real in terms of moving Canadian exports into the United States in a greater number and will be almost immediate in terms of seeing more of that product going stateside.”

Canada had threatened to impose tariffs on US goods if COOL wasn’t dropped. The World Trade Organization granted the right to impose tariffs after finding that COOL violated international trade rules.

The controversial legislation was estimated to have cost beef and pork industries billions of dollars over the years.