Swine Producers Successful in FY06 Agriculture Appropriations Bill

November 2, 2005 — 

A number of legislative initiatives of interest to pork producers were affected by passage of the FY06 Agriculture Appropriations bill. These included the actions on Mandatory Cool of Origin Labeling (MCOOL), the "Downer Animal Amendment" and the Horse Slaughter Act.

Implementation of the MCOOL law was delayed until September 30, 2008. The COOL law would require the labeling of meat products to include information regarding the animal's country of birth, feeding location and slaughter. To be labeled a "Product of the US", pigs would have to be born, raised and slaughtered in the US. Pork producers have supported a voluntary COOL program but consider a mandatory requirement excessively burdensome on producers and likely to decrease exports. MCOOL was included in the 2002 Farm Bill, but implementation has been repeatedly delayed.

Pork producer advocates at the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) and other livestock associations were successful in removing an amendment to the Appropriations bill that would have prohibited the use of federal funds to support inspection of meat from animals unable to walk when presented for slaughter. The "Downer Animal Amendment", proposed by Senator Daniel Akaka (D-HI), would have effectively disallowed the slaughter of livestock for human consumption irregardless of the reason the animal was non-ambulatory. This would include animals inspected by USDA officials at the slaughter plant and deemed safe for human consumption such as fatigued hogs that recover fully following a period of rest after shipment.

Additionally, the implementation of the Horse Slaughter Act (which bans USDA from spending federal funds to inspect horse meat for export or human consumption) was delayed for 120 days to allow further study. Livestock producers are concerned that this bill could be used to target the slaughter and production practices of other species.

Source: National Pork Producers Council: http://www.nppc.org