Reinstating mCOOL Would Cost $1 Billion

An article on BEEF Magazine

The Meat Institute announced a new economic analysis by Decision Innovation Solutions finds that reinstating mandatory country-of-origin labeling (mCOOL) for beef and pork would impose significant costs, more than $1 billion annually, across the U.S. meat supply chain, increasing expenses for livestock producers, meat processors, retailers and consumers while providing little evidence of increased consumer demand for labeled products.

“This study proves there are real and significant costs to mCOOL, which would raise the price of meat for consumers already struggling to afford groceries. MCOOL would burden both packers and livestock producers with added costs at a time when beef packers are losing money due to the smallest herd size in 75 years causing record-high prices for cattle,” said Meat Institute president and chief executive officer Julie Anna Potts.

“Enacting mCOOL now would raise consumer costs and could hurt consumer demand, the one force keeping the beef industry moving through a difficult cattle cycle. And most importantly, there is a new voluntary ‘Product of USA’ label that is already helping consumers to purchase beef and pork born, raised and processed in the U.S. There is simply no need for a new label that will hurt the entire value chain.”

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