Canada and the United States are a global example of cross-border trade in food and agriculture products, forecast to exceed $65 billion this year. But Arun Alexander, Canada’s deputy ambassador in Washington, said Tuesday, “We are concerned about the real world consequences” of changing the rules on the voluntary “Product of USA” label.
In early March, the USDA proposed the label be restricted to meat, poultry and eggs that are born, raised, slaughtered and processed in the United States. Currently, foreign meat that is processed in U.S. plants can be labeled “Product of USA.”
In remarks to the North American Agricultural Journalists, Alexander said the integrated livestock market “is a real reflection of the value and importance of local and regional food systems.” With animals from both nations available to processors, plants can operate at full capacity, he said. “Small and medium-sized processors are the ones that can least afford to segregate products.”
The meat industry has said the “overly prescriptive” USDA regulation would affect foods such as hot dogs, sausage, bacon, ground beef and sliced ham that are often made with meat from more than one animal. “The proposed voluntary ‘Product of the USA’ label will have a discriminatory effect, causing meat packers and processors, who wish to make the claim, to segregate cattle, hogs, and meat from other nations,” said the North American Meat Institute, a trade group.
Congress repealed a mandatory country-of-origin labeling law for beef and pork in late 2015 after the WTO ruled the law was a trade barrier in disguise that discouraged imports of livestock from Canada and Mexico. The WTO said Canada and Mexico could impose up to $1 billion in retaliatory tariffs on U.S. products if the United States did not comply with the ruling.
Alexander said with the voluntary “Product of USA” label, “I think we have to look at the specific products to make sure we don’t disrupt those effective supply chains. And so we are willing to work together with the United States to implement measures that achieve the objective but also not disrupting those supply chains.”
Canada “will participate in USDA’s consultation process” on the regulation, said Alexander. The public comment period on the proposal runs through June 11.