The Food Marketing Institute is offering six educational sessions in August to help suppliers and retailers comply with country-of-origin labeling (COOL) laws. The U.S. Department of Agriculture issued its interim final rule on Monday.
"We appreciate USDA's decision to emphasize education and outreach, giving the industry time to implement the newly announced labeling systems," says Deborah White, FMI senior VP and chief legal officer.
Seafood was the first perishable commodity forced to comply with COOL in 2005. As of Sept. 30, the law will cover labeling for beef, chicken, goat meat, lamb, produce, peanuts, pecans, ginseng and macadamia nuts.
The Arlington, Va., retail food trade organization will conduct three one-day regional workshops jointly with the American Meat Institute Foundation and United Fresh Produce Association. The sessions are designed to help retailers, wholesalers and suppliers learn how to work together in complying with the regulations.
The workshops will feature legal experts from the three associations and USDA officials who helped write the rule. The morning session will cover how to implement COOL for meat and the afternoon for produce.
The dates and locations: Aug. 12 at the Four Points Sheraton hotel in Baltimore; Aug. 13 at the Hyatt Regency O'Hare hotel in Chicago; and Aug. 14 at the Wyndam hotel in San Jose, Calif. FMI will follow up with three Webinars from 2-4 p.m. EST on Aug. 19, 20 and 21 exclusively for retailers and wholesalers. To learn more and register for the workshops and web seminars, visit www.fmi.org/events.
