Letter to the Editor - Time to see truth at the meat counter

To the editor:

Where’s the beef … from?

No one wants to be misled, but it is happening every day at your meat counter. “Product of USA” is now gracing your beef and pork labels, even though your beef and pork are quite possibly not from an American farmer or rancher. This loophole in the USDA process which allows this to happen has to stop. We can start reversing this process by correctly informing Montana consumers with accurate country-of-origin placards at grocery stores.

In 2005 we banded together as Montanans to demand accurate placarding through our state Legislature. We developed a whole program for country-of-origin placards and implemented it successfully. We then joined in a national fight to implement federal country-of-origin labeling, and won. All of that was lost in 2015 because of bad trade policy, and our Montana ranchers immediately lost hundreds of thousands of dollars, which means, so did our economy.

Northern Plains Resource Council, along with Montana Cattlemen’s Association and Montana Farmers Union, is working to restore country-of-origin labeling at the Montana Legislature. State Sen. Al Olszewski, R-Kalispell, is sponsoring a bill to require a placard at the grocery store with country-of-origin for beef and pork.

Let’s come together as Montana ranchers and farmers and as people who love our high-quality beef from this country to restore our country-of-origin placards in Montana stores. Let’s also come together and tell our Montana delegation to restore federal COOL before the new NAFTA bill passes Congress.

It’s time to stand up for the truth at the meat counter. And it’s time our legislators do, too.

Brad Sauer

Havre