While some in Canada's agriculture sector are celebrating the removal of U.S Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) legislation, not all are happy.
Two weeks ago the U.S. Senate passed a bill which repealed mandatory labeling laws on beef and pork, but the legislation is still in effect for sheep.
Corlena Patterson, executive director of the Canadian Sheep Federation, says lamb producers are not happy the Canadian government accepted the partial repeal of COOL.
"There was never an instance where our federal government stood up for the Canadian lamb industry and said, 'Hey wait minute, that's not acceptable,'" she says. "The WTO (World Trade Organization) ruling has stated that the Country of Origin legislation contravenes free trade agreements, not Country of Origin Labeling beef and pork contravenes our free trade agreements, but the legislation itself."
Since COOL laws were put in place, Patterson says the Canadian sheep industry has lost $18 million in annual export revenues. She says these laws have acted as a trade restriction for Canadian sheep.
Source : PortageOnline