Imported beef has been a target for members of Congress for members of Congress for awhile, and now Wyoming legislators are putting a bulls-eye on making sure people know if they’re buying American-raised meat.
State Sen. Cheri Steinmetz, R-Lingle, wants to make it clear to consumers when they buy non-American beef her legislation that would require American beef producers to put “Made In The USA” labeling on their products sold in Wyoming.
The bill would help consumers to easily tell the difference between domestic and imported beef products.
“Country-of-origin labeling is important so that consumers know the origin of the product they are purchasing and that producers benefit from the value-added market component of USA beef,” Steinmetz told Cowboy State Daily. “America has the safest food supply in the world, that should be recognized.”
Her “Country Of Origin Label-USA Beef” bill states that all “Beef that is derived from cattle born, raised, slaughtered and processed in the United States shall clearly be labeled as a product of the United States of America.”
Sens. Brian Boner, R-Douglas, Bob Ide, R-Casper, Laura Taliaferro-Pearson, R-Kemmerer, and Reps. Bill Allemand, R-Midwest, Dalton Banks, R-Cowley, Pepper Ottman, R-Riverton, Tomi Strock, R-Douglas, and John Winter, R-Thermopolis, have co-sponsored the legislation.
The foreign presence in the U.S. beef market generally lowers prices by increasing supply.
Meat produced in the United States typically goes through just a few steps, starting at a ranch or farm before receiving processing at a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)-inspected facility and getting distributed to stores or restaurants.
Imported meat on the other hand, often takes a more prolonged route.
According to USDA, the majority of imported beef comes from Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and Brazil. While the meat is safety tested in its country of origin, there have been several scandals in Mexico and Brazil, including the parent company of JBS, the second largest beef packer in the U.S., pleading guilty in 2020 to bribery related to beef and chicken imports to the U.S.A.
Also, beef imported from Australia and New Zealand must travel a much longer distance to get to consumers than domestic beef. Imported beef is processed according to the food safety standards of the country it is in, which can be much lower than those in America, before being shipped halfway around the world to U.S. supermarkets and restaurants.
The lengthy supply chain also creates additional opportunities for contamination at every step along the way, according to American meat producer Good Ranchers.
Last October, the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service issued a public health alert for various meat and poultry products that were illegally imported from Myanmar.
Wyoming Congresswoman Hariett Hageman has championed country-of-origin labeling at the federal level, including proposing a $5,000-a-pound fine for companies that illegally label their meat as U.S. beef.
Not So ‘COOL’
Country of origin labeling (COOL) was a requirement that existed in the United States from 2002-2015. The law required retailers to document on labeling where their fresh beef, pork or lamb came from.
The law excluded processed meat but was expanded and strengthened in 2008 to include fresh nuts, fruits and vegetables and provisions for labeling products of multiple origins. COOL was not considered a safety, but rather a marketing label.
In 2015, the COOL laws were repealed for beef and pork as a result of complaints from meat companies that it cost them hundreds of millions of dollars to comply with the requirements and prohibited them from using creative branding. They were not repealed for nuts, fruits or vegetables.
The removal of this law had a mostly negative effect on smaller scale, local ranchers who compete against these larger companies and usually produce only their own meat. Steinmetz’s bill would essentially resume it on a state-level for beef.
“They should be told the truth as to what they’re eating,” Clark rancher and Park County Commissioner Lloyd Thiel told the Cody Enterprise in 2019. “There is a definite trend where people want to know where their food is coming from.”
Currently, corporations can legally slap a “Product of USA” label on imported beef that was born, raised and slaughtered outside of the U.S. as long as it’s repackaged on American soil.
In 2023, the USDA proposed a rule to stop beef labeling fraud.
Another one of the concerning issues about foreign and imported meat is that U.S. food safety inspectors only physically examine and or test a small subset of imported meat.
Not So Simple
The U.S. is the global leader in beef imports and Steinmetz’s bill would be a significant ask for American beef producers that would have to include the labeling on their Wyoming-sold products.
“Advocates claim that if you decrease imports that decreases the supply of beef in the U.S., which raises the price of cattle. That’s a fair point,” Gregg Doud, economist and the chief agricultural negotiator in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said in 2020, according to beef industry group Drovers, “except, name me another industry that gets ahead by shrinking their industry. If you shrink your industry, how are you going to compete with (other proteins)? Shrink your industry, and you will need fewer packing plants, not more.”
Steinmetz told Cowboy State Daily she doesn’t see the requirements being brought in her bill as any more onerous than those created in a 2019 law that requires cell cultured or plant-based products that do not meet the definition of "meat" and are not derived from harvested animals to be clearly labeled that they are not meat.
Many like Jim Magagna, executive vice president of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, point out that satisfying America’s taste for hamburgers requires the import of lean beef trimmings. This is because the vast majority of beef produced in the U.S. is relatively high quality, which results in fattier trimmings.
American producers will blend imported trimmings with their own “to reach the perfect mix of lean and flavorful,” according to the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association.
Magagna also said many northern U.S. beef producers will ship their cattle up to Canada to be finished before returning back to the U.S. to be slaughtered.
“That’s not U.S. beef under the bill,” he said.
In 2020, imported beef made up about 26% of that total ground beef production in America and in 2016, ground beef made up 45% of total U.S. retail beef consumption.
“Except for ground beef, very very little beef is primarily imported,” Magagna said.
Steinmetz’s bill doesn’t clarify whether products that mix imported and domestic meat would have to put the COOL labeling on. She told Cowboy State Daily she’ll talk with stock growers about their concerns on that point.
“The intent of the bill we’re supportive of, but how we can make it work for ranchers and maybe the consumer we have to figure out,” Magagna said.
Magagna said although the Stock Growers Association will probably support the legislation, he doesn’t understand why the onus would be put on American producers rather than international ones.
“Any non-U.S. beef should have to be labeled,” he said. “Put that burden on them.”
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
