Country of Origin Labeling Initiative

The Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) Final Rule was published by USDA on January 12, 2009, as a marketing initiative to provide consumers with accurate information on the source of certain foods, referred to in the Act as "covered commodities." For the meat and poultry supply chain, COOL regulations require the following:

• Retailers must notify their customers of the country(ies) of origin for covered commodities, which are the muscle cuts of beef, veal, lamb, pork, goat, chicken, as well as ground beef, ground lamb, ground pork, ground goat, and ground chicken.
• Retailers must maintain, for a period of one year from the date of sale, records and other documentary evidence provided by the supplier to establish a product's country(ies) of origin.
• Suppliers must maintain records to establish and identify the immediate previous source (if applicable) and immediate subsequent recipient of a covered commodity and records to substantiate origin claims for a period of 1 year from the date of the transaction.

In addition, USDA Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) regulations published August 2008 require that a country of origin statement, if present on the label of a covered commodity product that is to be sold by a retailer, must comply with COOL regulations.

mpXML Action

mpXML has prepared a guidance document for the meat and poultry supply chain to coordinate compliance with the USDA Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) program.

This guide summarizes the best-practice actions that suppliers, retailers, wholesalers, distributors, and foodservice operators should take regarding labeling and record-keeping for products that are defined as covered commodities. It also provides a standard process for incorporating COOL information into EDI messages. The guide can be downloaded in the right sidebar.