Under the law, “covered commodities,” including whole muscle cuts and ground pork for retail sales, must comply with country of origin labeling (COOL) requirements. The Seaboard Foods integrated food production system offers pork products from animals born, raised and harvested only in the United States. 

Product of USA

Born, raised & harvested in USA

To assist our retail customers with the COOL requirements effective May 24, 2013, Seaboard Foods will do the following:

Provide Products Born, Raised & Harvested in USA
Seaboard Foods processes animals that are born and raised only in the United States. We require affidavits stating animals delivered to our processing plants were born and raised in the United States. The affidavits are on file and available if needed for audits. 

Box Labeling and Branded Case-Ready Labeling 
Seaboard Foods prints “Product of USA” on box labels for all covered commodities. As allowed by the rule, processors can designate "Product of USA" as the origin for all three production steps on cases. However, retailers must provide information for all three production steps at point of sale to consumers.  To assist retailers, Seaboard Foods will begin converting all branded, case-ready packaging COOL language from "Product of USA" to "Born, raised & harvested in USA."

Provide Rail Strips to Declare Country-of-Origin to Consumers 
Seaboard Foods will soon offer rails strips stating "Born, raised & harvested in USA" to assist in labeling the origin of all three production steps at point of sale to consumers. When available (after June 28, 2013), you can order rail strips online at the Merchandising Center.

Print Country of Origin on Bills of Lading and Invoices
Seaboard Foods prints the country of origin for covered commodities on bills of lading and invoices as a way for you to maintain COOL records.

Provide Retrievable COOL Information Through Product Trace Online System
COOL information is linked to the Customer Care Center Product Trace system, where you can easily trace covered commodity products to identify country of origin in addition to other important product information. Use the serial number located on the box label to retrieve information from the Product Trace system. Your Seaboard Foods sales representative can provide your user log-in information if you do not have a Customer Care Center account.


Updated 06-10-2013