On December 21, 2016, the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) published a final notice in the Federal Register revising 18 U.S. grade standards for canned vegetables issued on or before August 3, 1998. AMS is replacing the two-term grading system (dual nomenclature) with a single term to describe each [...]
On March 2, 2016, the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture released a final rule to remove beef and pork from mandatory country of origin labeling requirements (COOL). AMS issued the regulation to conform with the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016. The final rule became effective immediately. The repeal of COOL for [...]
On February 3, 2015, the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued a notice to inspection program personnel (IPP) to make them aware of the Agricultural Marketing Service's (AMS) final rule on Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) published in the Federal Register on May 24, 2013, which requires certain [...]
On October 20, 2014, a World Trade Organization (WTO) Dispute Settlement Panel (DSP) issued a report which ruled that the revised Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) regulation finalized by USDA in May 2013 (2013 Final Rule) did not make the COOL laws and regulations as applied to beef and pork compliant with the Technical Barriers to [...]
