I was a junior in high school the first time that I heard about C.O.O.L. A Michigan State Officer, Aaron Preston, gave his National FFA prepared public speaking speech on this topic. I learned more in his eight minute presentation than i had while doing all the reasearch for my speech. Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) has beent alked about in the agriculture industry for a while now. With the recent E-Coli outbreaks, consumers are constantly wanting to know "Where?" their food comes from.
According to the October 1 issue of the USAtoday, food labeling went into full effect on Tuesday.
Good news or bad news?
As a consumer, I like to see the "Fresh from Florida" logo, or the "California Grown" logo. Although, with the increasing prices through the grocery store, the cheaper Mexican grown or other country of origin is much moee appealing to my shrinking wallet.
I think the C.O.O.L. labeling will instill more trust in the American farmer from the consumers, but I also think it will surprise most consumers how many products are imported onto our grocers' shelves.
This also can effect some agriculture industries in a negative way. For example, the beef industry moves cattle from country to country, state to state, depending on the process taking place: feed lot, slaughter, the buying and selling. How are we going to label those meats products "Dual Citizenship: Born in Canada, raised in Texas." This poses an issue for producers.
As a consumer, I like the new labeling. I have always liked knowing I was buying a product that was supporting Florida farmers. On the down side, if the product is cheaper and it is labeled "Produced in Uruguay," you can bet that barcode will register on my receipt.
1 comment:
This blog is a great length and focuses on a newsworthy agricultural issue. However, you need to be more careful with capitalization and grammar, as well as with AP Style usage. Look at "months" and "E. Coli," for example, in your AP Stylebook. Watch paragraphs, as well. Finally, make sure to add more information about how the story is portrayed in different media sources (which should be linked to your blog), as opposed to focusing mainly on your opinion.
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