Labelling

In order for consumers to support agricultural and harvest practices they consider ethically desirable, they must be able to identify products that use these methods.  For this reason a number of labelling schemes have developed to identify food qualities such as:

• Organic
• Sustainably Harvested
• Humanely Raised
• Country of Origin

Such labelling requires clear criterion for inclusion as well as an inspection process, typically with an independent auditor.

See also:

• Canada Protests Country of Origin Labelling

References:

• Bostrom, M. (2006). Regulatory credibility and authority through inclusiveness: standardization organizations in cases of eco-labelling. Organization, 13, 345-367.

Canada Protests Country of Origin Labelling

Country of Origin Labelling (COOL) has been in the news recently.  It currently requires that if an animal is raised in Canada, but processed in the United States, it must be labelled as "Canadian".

Republican senator Saxby Chambliss, who is currently visiting Canada, supports the law.  He argues that because Canadian products are of a high quality, comparable to American products, the label should produce no disadvantage.

However the Canadian government feels this practice  places the Canadian product at a disadvantage in the American market because Americans want to 'buy American' even when other products are of similar quality. Canada and Mexico  are protesting to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) that COOL labelling represents an unwarranted barrier to trade.

Sources:

• U.S. senator backs meat labelling law [CBC]
• Country-of-origin meat labelling on the way [Times Colonist]