The FSIS, or Food Safety and Inspection Service, is the public health agency within the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) responsible for ensuring that the nation’s commercial supply of meat, poultry, and egg products is safe, wholesome, and correctly labelled and packaged.
Cam Dahl, the general manager of Manitoba Pork, attended a webinar on the recently published final rule for voluntary labelling of FSIS-regulated products with US Origin claims. Dr. Beth McHugh, a staff officer with the labelling and program delivery staff within the Office of Policy and Program Development at FSIS, hosted the online event.
Voluntary Country of Origin Labelling (V-COOL) is a labelling program implemented by the United States government. It allows producers and retailers to voluntarily label certain products with information about their country of origin. Participation is not mandatory, meaning that it is optional for producers and retailers.
The Voluntary COOL program informs consumers about the origin of products such as meat, poultry, seafood, and fresh fruits and vegetables. Producers and retailers can choose to label their products with statements like “Product of USA” or “Imported from Canada” to inform consumers about the origin of the goods.
The primary goal of V-COOL is to give consumers more transparency and information about the products they purchase, allowing them to make informed choices based on their preferences for products from specific countries.
It’s crucial to understand that V-COOL programs differ from mandatory COOL programs. The latter may require specific products to be labelled with country of origin information under certain circumstances or regulations. The former offers a voluntary approach, giving producers and retailers more flexibility in their labelling decisions.
Dahl said recent V-COOL legislation in the United States will change the requirements for “Product of the U.S.A.” and “Made in the U.S.A.” labels for red meat (e.g., pork, beef, veal, lamb), poultry, and eggs. Currently, processors and retailers can voluntarily use these labels if the meat originates from an animal processed in the U.S. For example, if a pig was born in Canada, finished in Iowa, and processed in Iowa, the resulting pork can carry the “Product of the U.S.A.” label.
“This holds with generally accepted trade law that allows labels to claim the country’s origin in which the last major transformation (e.g., processing) occurred,” said Dahl.
Under the new law, red meat, poultry, and egg products that carry the label must be from animals born, raised, processed, and packaged in the United States. In the example above, the pork from a pig born in Canada will no longer be allowed to be labelled “Product of the U.S.A” even though most of the production and processing occurred in the U.S.
“This change could result in discrimination against Canadian-born animals, like the three million isoweans shipped to the U.S. from Manitoba every year, if large retailers continue to use these labels,” he said.

The Manitoba Pork GM said that how retailers respond to new U.S. labelling requirements for meat, poultry, and egg products will determine the extent to which the regulations will be disruptive.
Dahl said the fear is that this change will disrupt the integrated nature of the North American market and result in discrimination against Canadian pigs, as was the case with U.S. Mandatory Country of Origin Labelling which was successfully challenged at the World Trade Organization.
“We see retailers like Costco, for example, label their pork products, even here in downtown Winnipeg, as Products of the USA. When this change in regulation comes into effect, someone buying Manitoba pigs in Iowa will probably think twice about that purchase because their processor is thinking twice about buying animals that don’t conform to the Product of the USA labelling.”
He said the most important question is what retailers will be doing. So far, neither side has had those in-depth conversations because of waiting until after the USDA published the final rule.
“That’s part of the work we’ll be doing in the next year and a half before the new regulations come into effect (on Jan. 1, 2026).
Dahl said the benefits of an integrated market are apparent to producers on both sides of the Canada U.S. border and Mexico and they’ll be working together to seek alternatives. •
— By Harry Siemens