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Ethanol group pushing for country-of-origin labels September 24, 2009 By The Associated Press HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) — Ethanol producers are pushing a proposal to mandate country-of-origin labeling on gasoline pumps so consumers know exactly where their fuel comes from. But the nation's refiners say the plan is unworkable. Growth Energy, an industry group representing about 50 ethanol companies across the nation, launched an effort to increase ethanol consumption in the country.

(WASHINGTON) — Democratic lawmakers want to make sure people know where their food and drugs come from and the overseas plants producing them are regularly inspected. Leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee proposed Thursday that all produce labels be required to show the country of origin. They also want food manufacturers of all kinds to identify on their corporate Web site where each ingredient in a particular food product originated. Drug labels also would have to identify the source of a medicine's active ingredient and its place of manufacture. Labels for all medical devices would have to show...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Try searching for a culprit in the 90 brands caught up in the recent recall of canned chili, stew and other products, and you weave back to a single manufacturer. That also was the case in recalls of spinach, pet food and frozen meat. Companies increasingly are paying others to make the foods we eat — or the ingredients in them — and then selling it under multiple brand names. And that has prompted a growing debate about food safety. "If people cannot trace a product back to a supplier, the supplier has no incentives to keep...

WASHINGTON - Shoppers are in the dark about where much of their food comes from despite a five-year-old law requiring meat and other products to carry labels with their country of origin. That soon may change. Reports of tainted seafood from China have raised consumer awareness about the safety of imported food and many of the law's most powerful opponents have left Congress. "The political dynamic is such that there's just no getting around it," said Colin Woodall, director of legislative affairs for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. The livestock group has opposed a mandatory labeling program. The Agriculture Department...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. consumers overwhelmingly support stricter food labeling laws, with 92 percent of Americans wanting to know which country produced the food they are buying, a consumer magazine said on Tuesday. Consumer Reports said recent food scares, including worries about peanut butter and lettuce, have made Americans more interested in knowing not only how their food was produced but where it was made. "I was definitely shocked at how high these numbers were," said the study's coauthor Dr. Urvashi Rangan, a senior scientist and policy analyst at Consumers Union, the nonprofit organization that publishes Consumer Reports magazine. "It's...

Beijing - Battered by a wave of poisoned-food scandals around the world, China this week unveiled a new plan to improve its food and drug safety that promised "severe punishment" for producers of fake or poor quality food. "Guaranteeing the safety of all publicly available foodstuffs and pharmaceuticals must be the alpha and omega of all our work," the five-year plan declared. It pledged to uphold international safety inspection standards and threatened public blacklists of "untrustworthy" food and drug producers. n this file photo, police hold down the heads of accused criminals at a public arrest session at Beijing Railway...

As the Senate is mulling the details of a compromise immigration bill hammered together by the odd couple of Sens. Edward Kennedy and Jon Kyl, and as members of Congress hear from their constituents over the Memorial Day recess, it may be worthwhile to put the issue in historical context. For most of our history, the United States had no restrictions on immigration at all. I am told that my Canadian-born grandfather was a "nickel immigrant": He took the five-cent ferry from Windsor, Ontario, north to Detroit roundabout 1896. This situation resulted from America's strong demand for labor, coupled with...

Some lawmakers believe consumers have the right to know they're eating meat produced in America, and are trying to re-instate a law --- included in the 2002 Farm Bill but never implemented --- to do just that. Supporters of country of origin labeling, otherwise known as COOL, say it will boost consumer confidence and fatten the wallets of livestock farmers by creating more demand for U.S. meat. Opponents believe COOL will cost too much money for little or no benefit. They don't believe most consumers are willing to pay the cost of program, which will be passed on by processors....

Bush Signs $100 Billion Food and Farm Bill 1 hour, 5 minutes ago President Bush on Thursday signed a $100 billion food and farm spending bill that includes a two-year delay on labels telling grocery shoppers where their meat comes from. The legislation postpones mandatory meat labeling until 2008. Originally sought by Western ranchers and required by law in 2004, country-of-origin labeling has stalled under pressure from meatpackers and supermarkets who call it a record-keeping nightmare. The measure also overrides a court ruling on whether products labeled "USDA Organic" can contain

Senator Rick Santorum introduced the Food Promotion Act of 2005, legislation that will create a voluntary country of origin labeling system for food products. The bill would replace the mandatory labeling program with a more efficient, less expensive voluntary system for beef, veal, lamb, pork, fish, and produce. Instead of a national country of origin system, products would be labeled along the supply chain wherever it is most efficient to do so.

House Votes to Postpone Meat Labels in Grocery StoresBy Libby Quaid Associated Press Writer Published: Jun 8, 2005 WASHINGTON (AP) - The House voted Wednesday to block the government from requiring labels that would tell shoppers from what country their meat comes. Congress already had postponed the labeling from its original date of 2004 to September 2006. The House action would stop the Agriculture Department from spending money on the new requirement. The postponement was part of a $100 billion spending bill for food and farm programs in the budget year that begins Oct. 1. The House passed the bill...