A Manitoba pork marketer says some U.S. processors have shut their doors to Canadian pigs as enforcement of U.S. voluntary country of origin labelling (vCOOL) looms.
“It’s very impactful,” said Lorne Voth, president of ProLine Pork Marketing.
“We get more and more guys that are saying, ‘I need Americans. I need American pigs.’ ”
WHY IT MATTERS: Although voluntary on paper, many Canadian pork producers worry that voluntary country of origin labelling (vCOOL) will, in practice, have similar impacts as mandatory country of origin labelling did more than a decade ago.
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U.S. voluntary country-of-origin labeling rules were passed in 2024 and take effect Jan. 1, 2026. They will restrict companies from adding “Product of USA” or “Made in the USA” labels to meat, poultry and egg products unless they come from animals born, raised, slaughtered and processed in the United States.
In 2024, the U.S. imported 6.8 million head of live pigs from Canada valued at $779 million, according to data from the Manitoba government.
The province sent 29 per cent of those imports, representing 27 per cent of pigs sold in the province. This included millions of weanlings that are raised and slaughtered south of the border.
Livestock and industry groups are concerned the new labelling rules will discriminate against Canadian animals due to a need to segregate them from American animals, which would be costly and inefficient.
Pigs are moving, but it’s not always easy, Voth said at a Manitoba Pork producers meeting earlier this month.
Voth told the Manitoba Co-operator that a few American processors have said they won’t take Canadian pigs.
He hesitated to say what percentage of processors had opted out but said the packers refusing Canadian animals were concentrated in the Midwest, where some of the largest plants are located.
Packers to the east remain happy to buy Canadian pigs.
“That’s because they’re not full,” Voth said.
“So you’re not full, and you’ve got to fill your shackles, then you’re open.”
Voth said some plants never reopened to Canadian pigs after mandatory COOL rules were repealed in 2015.
The repeal came after a protracted battle before the World Trade Organization.
Manitoba Pork chair Rick Prejet told producers Canada will have to wait until vCOOL takes effect before it can go to the WTO. It will need to prove there have been damages to Canadian meat sectors.
