U.S. Judge Rules Against Preliminary COOL Injunction

Sep 11, 2013

By Amanda Brodhagen, Farms.com

A U.S. district court judge will not be granting a petition for a preliminary injunction to halt the implementation of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s controversial mandatory country-of-origin meat labeling rule, also known as COOL.

Plaintiffs which included Canadian, U.S. and Mexican meat industry groups made their oral arguments Aug. 27, making the case that the rule violates their First Amendment rights and breaks the Administrative Procedures Act.

The court document said, “the Court has no trouble concluding that experience and common sense dictates that there was a likelihood of consumer confusion under the prior COOL program”.

While the Plaintiffs were disappointed with the judge’s ruling, proponents of the rule including the NFU welcomed the decision, noting that regulation addresses the possibility of consumer confusion over meat labeling.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.