WASHINGTON — Even as Congress looks to address Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling (MCOOL) in the upcoming farm bill, Senator Mike Rounds (R-SD) wrote to Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, urging her to develop a framework that reinstates MCOOL for beef.

The letter, sent on June 13, highlights the push to reinstate MCOOL from both producers and consumers.

As part of the 2002 farm bill, retail-level MCOOL for fresh fruits, vegetables, beef, pork, lamb and seafood was introduced and fully implemented in 2008. After a series of obstacles from trade partners and the World Trade Organization, Congress repealed MCOOL requirements for beef and pork.

“Since the repeal of Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling in 2015, Americans have consumed increasing amounts of foreign beef,” Rounds wrote. “Moreover, many Americans are unknowingly buying beef without transparent or reliable country-of-origin information. This practice has not only disadvantaged American producers but also misled consumers.”

Rounds points out that, for nearly a century, US trade law has required the majority of imported products to bear a country-of-origin label.

“There is no reason why this same level of transparency should not exist within our beef labeling system,” he said.

In addition to Congress’s efforts to include MCOOL in the next farm bill, Rounds believes it is also the responsibility of federal agencies to lead in an initiative like this.

“We urge you to work with US trade officials to develop a feasible framework for reinstating MCOOL for beef and to examine the deceptive practices currently distorting our beef markets,” he told Ag Secretary Rollins.

“Our American producers work hard every day to produce the highest quality beef in the world. They battle the wind, the rain, the snow and the sun. Foreign governments and multinational meatpacking companies should not determine the fate of the American family ranching system,” he concluded.