Hey, Lester, Where’s the Beef Label?

From a press release:
Agriculture Commissioner candidate Rickey Cole called on incumbent Agriculture Commissioner Lester Spell to enforce state law that requires retailers to label all fresh and frozen beef with the name of the country where it was produced.

“Mississippi’s country-of-origin labeling law has been on the books for nearly five years,” said Cole, who will face Spell in the November 6 general election for state agriculture commissioner. “It is high time for Lester to wake up, do his job and enforce the law.”

State regulations that became effective Jan. 1, 2003, require all retailers who sell fresh or frozen unprocessed cuts of beef and ground beef to provide specific information as to the origin of that beef. The state department of agriculture is responsible for enforcing the law.

But no enforcement action is evident in retail stores around the state.

“Go to any grocery store in Mississippi and try to find a country-of-origin label on a pack of fresh beef,” Cole said. “Why won’t Lester stand up for Mississippi consumers and cattlemen?

“The big corporate beef packers are mixing foreign beef from Mexico, South America and who knows where into our fresh beef supply, and Spell just looks the other way. In light of recent ‘mad cow’ outbreaks and beef recalls, Mississippians have a right to know where their beef is coming from.”

Spell has written a long article on country-of-origin labeling, emphasizing his role in the Chinese catfish scare earlier this year. The article was printed in the Market Bulletin, a publication of Spell’s agency, and in this month’s Farm Bureau magazine.

Spell makes no mention of beef or his agency’s responsibilities to enforce beef labeling laws in the article. Spell does write “I am asking for your (the consumer’s) strict awareness of the country of origin labeling (COOL) on imported goods in retail establishments.”

Cole responded: “It is pretty ironic that Lester would tell the public to use ‘strict awareness of the country-of-origin labeling’ when his office is giving no attention to the enforcement of a law that would make it much easier for the public to be aware of the country of origin of the beef they feed their families.

“Maybe since his involvement with the failed Beef Plant, Lester just can’t bring himself to even talk about beef anymore. “
To read the state Department of Agriculture and Commerce regulations on country-of-origin labeling, go to: www.mdac.state.ms.us/n_library/agency_info/reg_laws/pdf/reg_conpro_meatlabel.pdf