South Dakota Senator’s John Thune and Mike Rounds have introduced a bill to provide country of origin labeling for United States meat products. Rounds says the U.S. Beef Integrity Act would make sure the “Product of the U.S.A.” label goes on U.S. products. He says it will still be compliant with World Trade Organization rules because it is not mandatory.
Rounds says there is a loophole in the Food Safety and Inspection Service rules that allows foreign beef to be labeled as U.S. produce as long as it undergoes additional processing at a plant in the U.S. He says this needs to be changed as consumers deserve to know where their food is coming from.
Rounds says the “Product of the U.S.A.” label is also a sense of pride for cattle producers. The Senators also wrote Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue to offer support for administrative changes to the beef labeling requirements.
