Are you COOL?

So, what's COOL these days? Your meat isn't. Are you confused yet? COOL stands for Country of Origin Labeling. This was a law that the USDA had established that required the labeling of meat sold in the US to state the origin of the animal. However, the World Trade Organization ordered the USDA to reverse this rule, stating that it violated US trade agreements with Canada and Mexico. They claimed that it put an undue burden on producers and shippers to keep perfect record of the path each animal took from birth to slaughter.  With the rule in place, a label on your meat could potentially read "Born in Canada, Raised in Mexico, Slaughtered in USA." So why would we want our meat to be labeled with country of origin? Well, first, the American consumer likes to know that the product they are paying for is raised to a certain standard of quality. Second, it is good for the American meat producer because the consumer is more likely to purchase a product with a label stating "Grown and raised in the USA." Producers can still voluntarily add these labels if they would like to advertise their product's origin, but it is no longer required. So if you want to know where your meat came from, you'll have to look for products that choose to label the origin. But with as much importing and exporting we do every single day, it makes it difficult for processing companies to track the entire journey of the animal. Just know that, American born and raised or not, every product has to meet USDA quality standards, so you can't go wrong!