While the new country-of-origin labeling law is in effect as of Monday, the battle isn't necessarily over when it comes to giving consumers the complete lowdown of where their food comes from, said John Hansen, president of the Nebraska Farmers Union. "We have come a long ways, but still are not where we want to be," Hansen said. Farmers Union's battle to get a national country-of-origin food labeling law into effect goes back to 1984, with Nebraska Farmers Union being the first farm organization to champion the cause, Hansen said. But while consumers now have label information about where their meat, fruits and vegetables come from, Hansen said the meat industry is still resisting the law. He said USDA has left a loophole in the law that allows packers to label U.S. beef with a North American label, such as "Product of the U.S., Canada and Mexico," so long as one or more imported animals go through a packer's daily production run. "We are not done with that part of the deal yet," Hansen said, as country-of-origin labeling proponents are still battling the U.S. Department of Agriculture to fix the law the way Congress intended it when it was passed. "We are not going to rest until this law is the way it should be." Hansen said the promulgation of the law by the USDA "stands in stark contrast with both the letter and intent of the law that Congress passed over the threat of the Bush administration's veto." "The White House has bee ...
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