As part of a lawsuit filed on July 8th to block implementation of mandatory country-of-origin-labeling (COOL) rules finalized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in May 2013, nine meat and livestock organizations from the U.S., Mexico, and Canada have requested that the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia grant a preliminary injunction claiming that the regulations would carry severe economic impact and that they would cause harm to the meat and poultry industries. Furthermore, the injunction claims that the regulations exceed the authority granted to the USDA in the 2008 Farm Bill, and outlines a burden to the plaintiffs’ First Amendment speech rights.
To receive relevant news stories with summaries provided by GAI Research & Insight, subscribe to Global AgDevelopments, our free bi-weekly enhanced eNews service.