International Marketing Committee

Country-of-Origin Labeling (COOL) was the hot topic in the International Marketing Committee. A resolution was introduced by the Missouri Cattlemen’s Association for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) to work to repeal the mandatory labeling language in COOL for beef.

An amendment was presented by Montana representatives to seek an extension of voluntary labeling period to 2006 before the mandatory labeling laws would take effect. That amendment was rejected. The resolution passed as Missouri presented it and will be presented to the board.

Barry Carpenter, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agriculture Marketing Service (AMS), spoke on the rules and regulations for implementing COOL and what commodities were covered under the law. The key issues that COOL covers are the labeling of U.S. products that are born, raised and harvested in the United States, labeling of mixed origin products, methods of notification on where the product came from and enforcement of guidelines.

One question producers at the meeting wanted answered was how the cattle needed to be recorded to be tracked. Carpenter said there were no guidelines in the law to set up the mandatory program to track the animals. It was up to the retailers to set up the program with suppliers. The government would only provide a regulatory role in the procedure. He added that there were no provisions for meat from unknown sources to be sold at the retail level.

The other resolution that was introduced opposed any bilateral trade agreements between the United States and Australia that would take effect before the World Trade Organization (WTO) Doha Round Agreement takes effect. Australia and the United States are currently discussing a free trade agreement (FTA), and Australia has proposed removing import quotas on Australian beef. The resolution passed the committee and will be presented to the board.

International news
Ambassador Allen Johnson, chief agriculture Negotiator for the U.S. Trade Representative spoke briefly about the successes they have seen in agricultural trade. He spoke on the current negotiations to create FTA with Chile, and the plan they hope to implement in reducing and eliminating trade tariffs through the WTO in the next five years.

The U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) presented their top 10 international programs of the year. A brief summary follows:

(10) Taiwan Beef Alliance was the first cooperative effort to work with competitors – Australia and New Zealand – to implement a campaign that promoted the nutritional aspects of beef as the main message.

(9) China’s New Importer Training Program was held six different times. The program is a two-day event that has trained over 100 new importers. They are taught the basics of importing and the basics of meat.

(8) America Beef Club was launched in 1998 that was aimed at creating a premium for U.S. beef. There are 29 licensed distributors, and 154 restaurants in Europe and Russia involved. They must carry at least one high-quality beef cut to participate.

(7) Russia Beef Liver Promotion covered eight time zones and more than 500 outlets. The campaign focused on point-of-purchase items that highlighted major points of beef, including its versatility, health and nutrition benefits, etc.

(6) Korea Butcher Contest used the theme "delicious meat making." Fifty-six butcher shops and supermarkets participated, and the top 10 were brought in to a public forum to do cutting demonstrations and merchandise displays.

(5) Korea’s Culinary Camp brought well-known chefs from the United States to work with chefs in Korea one-on-one.

(4) Korea’s Meat Education and Research Center (MERC) has trained more than 2,000 chefs and food service operator since 2000. They work with meat and meat sales to build good relationships with the decision makers of tomorrow. In a study of the training they found that more students who went through the training were more likely to handle meat again than those who weren’t educated.

(3) Mexico "Alimentate Sanamente" campaign teamed up with a popular Mexican talk-show host to serve as a spokesperson. The slogan for the campaign was "Feed yourself well with U.S. beef," and the nutrition message was tied in with the slogan.

(2) Chef’s Competition invited chefs from Mexico and 12 islands in the Caribbean to compete. More than 200 chefs participated, and the winning chefs became integral parts of the USMEF, serving as third-party spokespersons for U.S. beef. They lead chef-to-chef seminars and also coordinated promotions.

(1) Japan’s "Aisareu," or desire beef campaign was implemented after bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) was discovered in Japan, and beef purchases severely dropped as a reaction. The objectives included generating consumer confidence in the safety of U.S. beef and educating consumers on the nutritional value of beef to get more beef in their diets. Three women that are involved in the U.S. beef industry were featured in the campaign to speak directly to the consumers on the safety of U.S. beef.

Other issues

Other issues that were discussed included the European Union’s (EU) ban on beef containing hormones. In January, the EU legalized the ban on U.S. beef using growth promotants. The question now is will the EU ask the WTO to rule that they are in compliance with the SPS?

The USMEF has selected a EU law firm to see if any legal action can be taken against the EU. An NCBA law firm reviewed their findings and disagrees on their approach and the chance for a successful outcome. A directive by the committee was made for NCBA to be a catalyst in bringing consensus among the two law firms and to create a coalition to cooperate to get funding to overturn the hormone ban.

— Stephanie Veldman