WASHINGTON, Sept. 3 — A broad coalition of farm, ranch, rural, consumer and allied organizations launched a petition Tuesday pressing the White House and Congress to restore mandatory country-of-origin labeling (MCOOL) for beef, warning that surging imports are making the labeling gap untenable for U.S. producers. The “Label Our Beef” petition follows a proclamation signed by President Donald Trump temporarily raising the quota for lean beef trimmings by 300,000 metric tons — more than 660 million pounds — from September 1 through November 30, 2026.
The move lands as the United States is already importing record volumes of beef, and it follows an earlier administration decision to expand the beef import quota from Argentina. Coalition leaders argue those additional imports sharpen the case for MCOOL, which would let consumers distinguish imported beef from product derived exclusively from cattle born, raised and harvested in the United States.
Momentum in Congress
The push arrives with legislative tailwinds. Earlier in August, the Senate Agriculture Committee voted 17-6 to advance MCOOL within the Farm Bill. The petition asks cattle producers, consumers and supporters of American agriculture to sign and share the appeal, directing a clear message to the White House and Congress: “Label Our Beef.” Joe Maxwell, president of Farm Action Fund, framed the issue in blunt terms.
“If Washington is going to open the door to hundreds of millions more pounds of imported beef, then American consumers should at least have the right to know where the beef they are buying comes from,” he said.
“Mandatory country-of-origin labeling is about something very basic: truth in the marketplace.” Matt Van Schyndel, a farmer-member of Missouri Rural Crisis Center and National Family Farm Coalition who owns Hedge Holler Harvest, noted that in 2025 alone the United States imported 5.4 billion pounds of boxed beef — yet consumers often have no way of tracing its origin. Jeanie Alderson of Northern Plains Resource Council, who runs both a cow-calf commodity operation and a direct-to-consumer beef business, said both depend on mandatory COOL.
Trade politics and the road ahead
Thomas Gremillion, director of food policy at Consumer Federation of America, recalled that Congress repealed MCOOL more than a decade ago despite overwhelming popular support, citing purported U.S. treaty obligations with Canada and Mexico. With the administration renegotiating those trade deals, he said, there is no excuse for keeping consumers in the dark. Jon Toomey, president of the Coalition for a Prosperous America, argued the original repeal came only after multinational meatpackers joined foreign trade ministries to secure an adverse ruling in Geneva and threaten U.S. producers with WTO-authorized retaliation.
Dave Hyde, president of R-CALF USA, said MCOOL would end the ability of adversaries to prevent American cattlemen from promoting — and consumers from choosing — a true product of the USA. Rebecca Wolf, food policy director for Food & Water Watch, said real competition is essential and that President Trump and Congress must restore MCOOL.
Gilles Stockton, a Livestock Competition Campaign Team member for the Western Organization of Resource Councils, called for systemic reform that includes MCOOL and reins in food monopolies. The petition is available online. Participating organizations include Campaign for Family Farms and the Environment, Coalition for a Prosperous America, Consumer Federation of America, Dakota Resource Council, Farm Action Fund, Food & Water Watch, National Family Farm Coalition, Northern Plains Resource Council, R-CALF USA, and Western Organization of Resource Councils.
Watch next: whether the Senate Agriculture Committee’s bipartisan margin holds on the floor, and how the administration’s trade posture on Canada and Mexico shapes the labeling fight as the temporary import quota runs its course.
