Minister Ritz Makes Case in Washington to End U.S. COOL Dispute

Agriculture Minister Ritz held meetings [yesterday] with members of the U.S. Congress, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, and U.S. and Canadian industry representatives in Washington D.C. on the subject of mandatory Country of Origin Labelling (COOL). Minister Ritz continued to pressure key members of the U.S. Government to put an end to mandatory COOL, which continues to hurt producers and processors on both sides of the border...

COOL has significantly disrupted the North American supply chain, created unpredictability in the market and imposed additional costs on producers on both sides of the border. Canada’s position remains that the U.S. has failed to bring COOL into conformity with its World Trade Organization (WTO) obligations...

This has been excerpted from the 21 November 2013 press release by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, and is available in its entirety at: http://www.agr.gc.ca/cb/index_e.php?s1=n&s2=2013&page=n131121a&src=hp.