Where's the beef (from)?

Cattle, and the meat they yield, may seem about as American as the cowboy. Indeed, the US Department of Agriculture seal of approval is embossed on much of the beef supermarkets sell.

But not even all USDA beef comes from US cattle. When Americans buy a package of ground beef - pound for pound the biggest seller in the beef aisle - it might include meat from cattle born, raised, and processed in Latin America, the South Pacific, and Canada.

The same diversity is found in steaks and other cuts of beef shipped to the US from around the world. Overall, about 20 percent of beef sold in the US comes from cattle born outside US borders.

Beef and food imports in general are nothing new. But at a time of rising concern over food security, and international conflicts prompting some consumers to "buy American," public demand is growing for information about where food originates.

"I think there's increasing interest among a lot of people in where the [food] they buy comes from," says Art Jaeger, associate director of the Consumer Federation of America.

To that end, Congress last year passed a law requiring that, by 2004, all beef, lamb, pork, farm-raised fish, fruits, and vegetables sold in the US include a label listing the country where the food originated.

The current row among cattlemen, meat packers, and retailers over the measure shows the ripple effects of a bid to provide consumers with an additional piece of information about a product.

When Judy Easterday discusses the problems American ranchers face, she recalls an incident outside a Boise, Idaho, packing plant.

About five years ago, Mrs. Easterday and her husband, Norman, had to wait an hour on the side of the road before they could unload their cattle at IBP's Boise factory. The Easterdays, who have been shipping cattle for 20 years, say they are patient people. But they were annoyed by the reason for their wait: About 10 trucks packed with Canadian cattle had arrived at the plant first

Now, she says, more and more Canadian cattle trucks deliver to Boise, making the wait even longer. "We have to wait, and we're all getting paid less for our better beef," says Judy.

Americans ranchers are upset with how easily foreign beef gets into the US. They argue that government regulations hold them to a higher standard than their foreign competitors.

The result: Their profit margins are shrinking.

"We cannot compete with countries who can sell cattle for cheaper than what it costs us to produce them," says Margine Eiguren, who runs Eiguren Family Ranch in Jordan Valley, Ore.

Ranchers believe the country-of-origin label may be their best tool to win over US consumers.

"Right now, consumers are being led to believe that the meat is all from the USA, when in fact they don't have a clue," says Ms. Eiguren.

In fact, much of the meat consumers buy originates in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. Last year, the three nations combined sold more than 2.3 billion pounds of beef to the US. Other countries that exported meat to the US in 2002: Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Uruguay.

A huge number of live cattle from Canada and Mexico also pass through US borders. In 1980, the US imported 700,000 head of cattle. By 2000, the number had jumped to 2.2 million.

Foreign ranchers sell them to US feedlots and meat processors at much higher prices than they would receive in their own countries.

Meat processors, which prepare the beef and ship it to retailers, benefit enormously from the system. Because the cost of raising cattle in Uruguay, for example, is much less than in the US, Uruguayan ranchers can sell meat at more competitive prices.

But once US processors buy the meat, they are not obliged to tell consumers where it originated. They can also sell it for the same price as typically more expensive American beef.

The country of origin of the meat used in ground beef is similarly disregarded - and more complex. Frozen boxes of trimmings of facial meat, among the cuts used to make ground beef, are traded as a commodity on the global market.

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