Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) regulations went into effect on April 4, 2005 for larger retail grocery establishments. Please be aware that this U.S. congressional mandate is regulated by the USDA (and not the FDA, which is responsible for regulating seafood products), and traditionally regulated food commodities such as red meat and poultry are currently exempt. Thus, the COOL regulations currently involve only seafood items, and there are many exemptions for processed seafood items as well. Please open the two attached official USDA releases for further information about documentation and records maintainence, and method of production claims.

You can also visit the official USDA COOL Web site devoted to the regulation at: http://www.ams.usda.gov/cool/.