COOL labeling: It’s official

Everything in October stores will be labeled

By Culinate staff

September 22, 2008

The concept of labeling foodstuffs by their country of origin has been around for a while now — in fact, it became federal law in 2002. But it’s taken the feds another six years to actually make it happen. Beginning September 30, all meats, fish, poultry, and produce sold in retail stores in the United States must bear country-of-origin labels (COOL). Consumers Union, the nonprofit behind Consumer Reports, even has a downloadable PDF for folks trying to figure out the labels.