Washington, D.C. — The American Economic Liberties Project released the following statement in response to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s (NCBA) request that Secretary Vilsack suspend all imports of fresh beef from Brazil following two reported cases of a neurodegenerative disorder in Rio de Janeiro.

“If health and safety standards for imported beef are unsound, merely pausing those imports to investigate the issue is almost ludicrously insufficient,” said J.D. Scholten, Senior Advisor at the American Economic Liberties Project. “American consumers deserve to know — in plain language and large font — exactly where the meat on the shelf came from. The only way to ensure this transparency is through permanent rules, not pauses and investigations. Congress must enact real, toothy Country of Original Labeling requirements — otherwise we’ll just be right back here again in a few years.”

Learn more about Economic Liberties here.

###

The American Economic Liberties Project works to ensure America’s system of commerce is structured to advance, rather than undermine, economic liberty, fair commerce, and a secure, inclusive democracy. Economic Liberties believes true economic liberty means entrepreneurs and businesses large and small succeed on the merits of their ideas and hard work; commerce empowers consumers, workers, farmers, and engineers instead of subjecting them to discrimination and abuse from financiers and monopolists; foreign trade arrangements support domestic security and democracy; and wealth is broadly distributed to support equitable political power.