Should Labels Say Meat Was Made In USA? Ranchers, Meatpackers Disagree

You've probably seen, but may not have noticed, labels on the meat at your grocery store that say something like "Born, Raised, & Harvested in the U.S.A." or "Born and Raised in Canada, Slaughtered in the U.S."

These country-of-origin labels, as they are known, are part of an ongoing international trade dispute that has swept up Midwest ranchers. And they may not be long for store shelves.

The 2002 Farm Bill was the first to require country-of-origin labeling on meat. It took another seven years of rulemaking and legal wrangling for the labels finally to reach supermarket shelves in 2009. But last October, the World Trade Organization, ruled that the labels were an unfair trade barrier for meat producers in other countries. That has left the labels — and the meat industry — in limbo.

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