Food...

Figuring out your food miles will get easier by October.

As the Chicago Tribune reported, starting September 30, a new federal law will require meat labels that show the country of origin on beef, pork, chicken, lamb, as well as fruits, veggies, and some nuts.

Country of Origin Labels (also known as COOL) will tell you whether the animal was raised in the U.S. or another country so you can identify food that comes from countries with safety concerns, or so you can keep your food dollars in the U.S. But, some labels may be more complicated than you realize: ground beef labels may have more than one country listed, because the process to make a hamburger requires meat from more than one country.

As COOL starts up, some (the USDA, the Consumers Union) are against the law either because it doesn’t cover enough (the Consumers Union) or because they think consumers will know too much and are concerned about cost (the USDA). We’ll see how the COOL labels play out, but in the meantime, how much information do you want on your meat label?

Photo from the Dvorak Uncensored blog.