USDA Cost Estimates Show That Mandatory Country-of-Origin Labeling for Meat Will Cost Billions
28 October 2003 - 7:35AM
PR Newswire (US)
USDA Cost Estimates Show That Mandatory Country-of-Origin Labeling
for Meat Will Cost Billions Law Will Burden Meat Sector, Harm U.S.
Economy Long-Term ARLINGTON, Va., Oct. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- The
following is a statement by American Meat Institute President J.
Patrick Boyle: "Legend has it that Everett Dirksen once said, 'A
billion here, a billion there and pretty soon you are talking real
money.' Apparently, country-of- origin labeling advocates don't
know the value of real money as they support a mandatory labeling
law that USDA now says could cost as much as $3.9 billion in the
first year alone. Not only will this law be costly to the meat
sector, USDA estimates indicate that it will cost the U.S. economy
as a whole more than half a billion dollars a year. Proponents of
the law have long claimed consumers will pay more for meat products
that carry country-of-origin labels. However, USDA indicates that
it was unable to find any quantifiable evidence that consumers will
pay more. USDA's economic analysis places a price-tag of almost
$2.4 billion on the meat industry. USDA noted the competitive
advantage that this law will give poultry processors, saying 'While
revenues to the suppliers of covered commodities fall, revenues to
broiler and chicken suppliers increase ... consumers will
substitute chicken for beef and pork when their prices increase
relative to the price of chicken. Consequently the increases in
pork and beef prices cause consumer demand to shift toward
chicken.' No doubt, supporters of country-of-origin labeling will
attack government economists and say USDA's cost estimates are
faulty and overstated. And they've claimed benefits, citing studies
like one done by Colorado State University researchers which they
claim says consumers will pay more for labels, even when the
study's own researchers say -- and USDA agrees -- their findings
have been misrepresented. It appears that country-of-origin
proponents won't let the facts get in the way of their myopic
support of this misguided law. If there were billions to be made
through a country-of-origin labeling program, the meat industry
would have done it already. Still, if there are people out there
who believe that country-or-origin labeling stands to benefit them,
then we say go for it. Implement a country-of-origin labeling
program -- just do so voluntarily. But leave the rest of us out of
your multi-billion dollar federal mandate." DATASOURCE: American
Meat Institute CONTACT: Janet Riley, +1-703-801-2238, or Dan
Murphy, +1-703-850-5318, both of the American Meat Institute Web
site: http://www.meatami.org/
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