WASHINGTON, D.C. — Cattle farmers still face international competition to claim the “Made in the USA” label.

Country of Original Labeling, COOL, was overturned in 2015 after it faced challenges from Canada and Mexico. The two countries challenged the labeling requirements at the WTO in 2008 and 2009, arguing that it put imported meat at a disadvantage. In 2015, the USDA stopped enforcing the COOL requirements for beef and pork products.

Since then, the beef industry has been fighting back. Since Brazilian beef is now allowed into the country, closing the loopholes has become more important, said Lia Biondo, with the US Cattlemen’s Association, USCA.

After COOL was repealed, the food industry reverted to the rules on the books that state any product that comes in to the country and has significant changes can have the label “Made in the US”, Biondo said.

Her organization petitioned the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, FSIS, to close the loophole, and received a response at the end of March.

Significant changes can be considered changing the packaging.

“You can just stick a knife into it and it’s said to be American made,” she said.

The USCA wants to define “Made in America” as cattle born, raised and slaughtered within the country.

At the end of March, the FSIS responded to the petition, indicating the organization knows beef is being mislabeled and that it is a problem, but in making a decision, they consider all the comments on the petition. Some of these unsupportive comments came from processor trade associations, Canadian and Mexican livestock producer trade associations and governments, and other cattle producer trade associations.

“FSIS has concluded that its current labeling policy, which permits meat and poultry products … raised and slaughtered in another country but processed in the United States to be labeled as ‘Product of USA,’ may be causing confusion in the marketplace,” the response states.

Now, the FSIS will consider a second rule to limit “product of the USA” and other voluntary US origin statements to meat products from livestock that were slaughtered and processed in the US, the response reads.

Biondo said the move helps, but not enough. It is expensive to ship living animals from one country to another, which would limit the labeling of Brazil beef as US beef, but it is still a problem.

If there is a health issue with Brazilian beef, consumers in the US won’t know to pay attention because they think their beef is from the US, she said.

“Once it has that product of the US label, it gets pretty hard to keep track of it,” she said.

She doesn’t know how much beef is packaged in the US with the labeling. No one keeps track of the labels, but the FSIS investigation did indicate that it is happening, she said.

“Since the repeal of (COOL)… there has been no official definition of U.S. beef, nor any specific ‘Made in USA’ labeling requirements for beef products that are so labeled,” the petition states.

Many cattle from Canada and Mexico enter the US every year and are slaughtered in US packing facilities. As a result, the possibility that the label “Product of the USA” or some such other claim of U.S. origin is very real, the petition continued.

The petition concludes that there are no current beef labeling requirements mandated by law and existing voluntary labeling practices can cause consumer confusion. 

“The way they’re attempting to remedy it isn’t really going to fix the problem down the line,” Biondo said of the FSIS response.

But the fight isn’t over. There are two bills in Congress right now that would close the loophole. The US Beef Integrity Act, Senate Bill 2744, and House Bill 4481 would require all beef to be born, raised and slaughtered in the US.

“We plan to continue to push until we close the loophole,” she said.

The Washington State House passed a bill in February. If it passes the senate, it would allow a cow to spend up to 60 days of its life outside the US and still qualify.