July 01, 2005 Table of Contents  July 01, 2005    House takes up
voluntary country-of-origin bill - July 1, 2005    posted June
15, 2005 House Agriculture Committee chairman Bob Goodlatte of
Virginia and 42 co-sponsors in May introduced bipartisan
legislation for a voluntary country-of-origin labeling program
for beef, pork, and lamb sold in the United States.   The Meat
Promotion Act (H.R. 2068)—V-COOL, for short—would replace
mandatory country-of-origin labeling for meat and is scheduled
to take effect in September 2006.  Goodlatte said VCOOL would
allow producers to work with processors and retailers to provide
labeling information to help them market their product. This
approach benefits both consumers and producers, the chairman
added, and is preferable to the mandatory program, which is more
likely to harm those it's meant to help.  If passed, the act
will allow retailers to label beef, pork, and lamb as U.S.
products only if they are derived exclusively from animals born,
raised, and slaughtered in the