Imported Meat’s `Free Ride’ Ends, Says NCBA

July 25, 2000

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association says a USDA decision to propose an end to grade stamping imported meat signals an end to the "free ride" imported meat has enjoyed. Giving imported carcasses a U.S. grade is a "direct violation of the Agricultural Marketing Act," says NCBA.

Last week, USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service announced the proposed rule. Administrator Kathleen Merrigan said the proposal "will assure U.S. consumers that the USDA grade shield appears only on meat products from livestock processed in the United States."

National Cattlemen’s Beef Association President-Elect Lynn Cornwell said ends the "free ride" that imported beef has enjoyed. "Giving imported carcasses a U.S. grade is a direct violation of the Agricultural Marketing Act."

The NCBA and the American Sheep Industry Association last year asked that USDA end the official grading of imported meat products. USDA solicited public comments on the issue, and 104 people and producer groups responded – most of them asking that USDA restrict the meat grading services to exclude imported meat products.

AMS said they expressed the belief that applying the USDA grade shield to imported meat products contributes to consumer confusion regarding the origin of those products. Cornwell says the law requires that "meat of all eligible species shall be graded only in the establishment where the animal was slaughtered or initially chilled."

In a statement, Cornwell added, "This is another important step in NCBA's long-term action plan to ensure fair and profitable cattle marketing regulations. The Act was never intended to enhance the marketing of foreign products by placing official USDA seals on such products and thereby giving U.S. consumers a false and misleading impression that such products were of U.S. origin."