USDA Guidance on Mandatory Retail Origin Labeling Requirement for Fish and Shellfish

Mandatory COOL for muscle cuts of beef, lamb, and pork; ground beef, lamb, and pork; certain perishable agricultural commodities (e.g. fresh fruit and vegetables); and peanuts is currently postponed until September 30, 2006, and is expected to be further postponed until September 30, 2008. (See ITT's Online Archive of 11/10/05 news, 05111015 for BP summary of House/Senate passage of bill to extend postponement date to September 30, 2008. )

AMS maintains a web site on mandatory COOL labeling requirements, at www.ams.usda.gov/cool/index.htm , which contains links for various prior issuances and rulemakings relevant to mandatory COOL.

Notice to trade on documentation and records. One of these issuances is a Notice to the Trade on mandatory COOL for farm-raised and wild fish and shellfish, which clarifies the documentation and records that are required to be maintained to substantiate country of origin and method of production claims.

Among other things, this Notice to the Trade states that for compliance purposes at both the retail and supply chain levels, the records used to substantiate claims consist of two parts, (1) the record to establish the chain of custody of the product, which, in almost all cases, can be accomplished through routine business documents, and must be maintained by retailers and their suppliers, and (2) the record to establish country of origin and method of production, which for pre-labeled products, is the label itself. If not pre-labeled, documentation must be maintained at the retail site while the product is on hand and for a period of 1 year by both the retailer and their suppliers.

(AMS states that the term 'pre-labeled' refers to covered commodity packaging (i.e. consumer packages or shipping containers), which is labeled for country of origin and/or method of production by the firm or entity responsible for making the initial claim for these attributes or by a further processor or repacker (i.e. firms that receive bulk products and package the products as covered commodities in a form suitable for the retailer).)

CBP rulings on COOL for fish, shellfish. AMS has also posted to its Web site on mandatory COOL labeling three rulings from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on mandatory COOL for fish and shellfish. Highlights of these three rulings follow:

HQ 563104. Seafood products substantially transformed in the U.S. may be labeled "From Country X/Processed in U.S." (which appears to be acceptable under the mandatory COOL regulations) provided the product does not include a marking with a country of origin indicator "Product of", "Made in", or "Assembled in" in conjunction with a foreign country. For seafood products which are not substantially transformed, CBP would not accept the term "Imported from." Acceptable markings for these goods would be "Product of Country X" or simply "Country X." Ruling dated Oct 19, 2004.

HQ 563033. For shrimp that is grown and harvested in Bangladesh and processed in India, CBP states that the country of origin is Bangladesh, as the heading, shelling, deveining, cooking and freezing, or some combination of these processes, which occurs in India, does not substantially transform the shrimp into a product of India. Ruling dated Jul 6, 2004.

HQ 563273. Based on the information provided in the ruling request, CBP states that where Canadian lobsters are commingled together with U.S. lobsters, and repackaged for sale to retailers, the marking "Product of USA and Canada" on the outermost container is acceptable. Where only Canadian lobsters are repackaged into containers, such containers must be labeled "Products of Canada."

Where the possibility exists that the pounding storage tank may contain lobsters of U.S. origin only, of Canadian lobsters only, or a mixture of both, and direct physical identification of the origin of the commingled material is not practical, one of the approved inventory management methods set forth in Part I, Section X of the Appendix to Part 181 of the Customs Regulations may be utilized to determine the country/countries of origin of each withdrawn shipment, i.e., Canada only or the U.S. only, as an alternative to a commingled mixture of Canadian and U.S.-origin lobsters. The use of the phrase "Product of USA and/or Canada" is not acceptable. Ruling dated July 2X, 2005.

AMS Notice to the Trade (March 2005) available at http://www.ams.usda.gov/cool/recordkeepingnotice.pdf

HQ 563104 available at http://www.ams.usda.gov/cool/customs/customs1.htm

HQ 563033 available at http://www.ams.usda.gov/cool/customs/customs2.htm

HQ 563273 available at http://www.ams.usda.gov/cool/customs/customs3.pdf