10 The Business of Canadian Hog Farming Better Pork | August 2024 'PRODUCT OF USA' LABELS The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently announced a rule change regarding the voluntary ‘Product of USA’ or ‘Made in the USA’ labels on meat, poultry and egg products. The rule change will come into effect in 2026, but in the meantime, pork producers on both sides of the border have expressed concerns that the regulations could disrupt supply chains and negatively impact businesses in the sector. The new rules state that to use one of the labels in question, all products contained therein must be derived from animals that are born, raised, slaughtered and processed in the U.S. On the surface that seems simple enough, however, concerned parties have noted that the pork sectors of the U.S. and Canada are highly integrated, with feeder animals and weanlings often being supplied to U.S. operators by Canadian producers. Under the rules as they currently stand, the ‘Product of USA’ label can be used as long as the “last major transformation” of the product occurred in the U.S. – for example, a pig raised on a Canadian farm and processed in the U.S. can be identified as a ‘Product of USA.’ “You could go into a Costco store pretty much anywhere in Canada and if you look at their pork products, they’re all ‘Product of USA,’ and that isn’t discriminating against the Canadian live shipments of pigs into the U.S.,” says Cam Dahl, general manager at Manitoba Pork. “Because if you ship a weanling to the U.S. and it’s raised in the U.S., that is still eligible. In Manitoba alone, we ship three million weanlings into the U.S. every year. And when the new rule comes into effect, they are going to be discriminated against.” Ostensibly, the rule change is intended to protect U.S. products and consumer confidence, but Dahl notes that such “protectionist” measures could hurt both sides with few benefits. For one thing, even with agreements such as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) easing the process of crossing the border, if U.S. producers are sourcing their weanlings from Canada rather than a domestic source, they are obviously doing so for a reason. “Pork producers in both Canada and the U.S. benefit from an integrated market,” says Dahl. “That means that consumers on both sides of the border benefit from an integrated market as well.” Executive director of Alberta Pork, Darcy Fitzgerald, adds that it is not solely Canadian producers who are concerned. “Pork producers, retailers and processors in the U.S. weren’t asking for this for the pork industry,” says Fitzgerald. “This is not our issue; we’re so integrated in what we do. It’s one of those things that just becomes a hin- ‘PORK PRODUCERS, RETAILERS & PROCESSORS IN THE U.S. WEREN’T ASKING FOR THIS.’ INDUSTRY REACTS TO NEW USDA ‘PRODUCT OF USA’ RULES By MATT JONES luoman E+ photo
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