Administration Backs a Food-Labeling Delay
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
Published: January 22, 2004
WASHINGTON, Jan. 21 — Stepping into a contentious debate in Congress over country-of-origin labeling for supermarket beef and produce, Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman said Wednesday that she supported a two-year delay in the program because Congress needed more time "to put some refinements" on a farm law that requires it starting next fall.
The secretary's comments, her first in public about the labeling question, came during more than two hours of testimony before the House Agriculture Committee on how her department was handling the investigation of the first case of mad cow disease in the United States.
She also outlined her views on labeling in a letter sent Tuesday to Senator Michael B. Enzi, Republican of Wyoming, who has joined with Democrats to oppose the delay.
"The country-of-origin provision contained in the farm bill is a targeted retail marketing tool, not a food safety or animal health program," Ms. Veneman wrote, "and it should be treated as such."