FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 11, 2003
Contact:
Victoria Wong
Marketing Associate
Farms.com Ltd.
(877) 438-5729
victoria.wong@farms.com
Farms.com Launches New "COOL" Website.
London, ON – July 11, 2003. Farms.com Ltd., leading information and marketing company providing innovative solutions to the North American agriculture and food industry, announced the launch of a new COOL – Country of Origin Labeling information web page at www.farms.com/cool.
The implementation of Country of Origin Labeling (COOL), a mandatory initiative of the 2002 US Farm Bill, is pressing amongst food and agricultural organizations. Farms.com has added the website extension with articles and resource links to educate various sectors of the agriculture and food industry about the legislation and its guidelines. While guidelines for voluntary COOL are already in place, the mandatory regulations will be issued on September 30, 2004 and require labeling for beef, lamb, pork, fish, perishable agricultural commodities and peanuts at the retail level. The purpose of COOL is to provide consumers with the country of origin information. It is not intended to be a food safety measure.
“We are seeing how any Canada-USA trade issues that occur can be disruptive and expensive to the agriculture and food industry. Our news webmaster has been tracking and posting relevant COOL information so producers can stay on top of the news and determine any appropriate course of action. This is a free service available to visitors at the www.farms.com portal site. It is important to be informed and aware of the impact COOL will have on producers and agrifood businesses.” says Joe Dales, Vice President at Farms.com. He also adds, “There is quite a bit of COOL news these days considering we are only 14 months away from the date (September 30, 2004) that mandatory COOL systems are supposed to be operational.”
**At www.farms.com find business services and resources for agribusiness, livestock, and crop producers.
For more information, contact:
Victoria Wong
Marketing Associate
Farms.com Ltd.
877-438-5729
victoria.wong@farms.com