COOL Webinar

Julia Stewart passes on this note about the free Webinar next week on COOL best practices from PMA and Western Growers:


PMA, Western Growers co-host free industry Webinar June 24 on COOL best practices

Newark, Del. – Produce Marketing Association (PMA) and Western Growers (WG) will co-host a free Webinar for industry to learn about and provide feedback on the associations’ new draft best management practices for complying with federal produce country of origin labelling (COOL). The complimentary Webinar, which will be held Tuesday, June 24 at 4 p.m. EDT/1:00 p.m. PDT, is designed to prepare industry members for Sept. 30, 2008, when mandatory federal country-of-origin labeling goes into effect.

The best practices were developed by the associations’ joint task force, whose members represent the entire supply chain. The task force was chaired by Tom Deardorff of Deardorff Family Farms and Mike O’Brien of Schnuck Markets.

PMA Vice President of Government Relations and Public Affairs Kathy Means, WG Executive Vice President Matt McInerney and task force co-chairs Deardorff and O’Brien will lead the Webinar. They will present the task force’s best practices, then field questions from Webinar participants.

“Implementing COOL practices throughout the produce supply chain is really a hot topic, especially with the Sept. 30 deadline approaching so quickly,” said Means. “Aside from this Webinar, PMA will also offer a COOL educational workshop at Fresh Summit in October, nearly one month after its implementation. Because the convention provides such a diverse representation of businesses, it is a perfect opportunity to check the industry’s pulse on COOL implementation.”
“Based on feedback we received throughout the supply chain, Western Growers and PMA were able to come together and develop a set of COOL best practices we anticipate will prove useful as a practical approach as the Sept. 30 deadline approaches,” said McInerney. “We are looking forward to broad participation in this Webinar, as we roll these best practices out.”

Webinar participants will get an inside look at COOL and the latest information to make origin labeling easy for companies throughout the industry. Presenters will give an update on U.S. Department of Agriculture rules and regulations, and how to prepare for future in-store compliance checks.

The draft country of origin labeling best practices that will be discussed in the Webinar can be accessed via PMA’s Web site at http://www.pma.com/issues/labeling.cfm, or on WG’s Web site at www.wga.com. The guidance will be reviewed again when USDA releases COOL regulations sometime in July.

The Webinar is complimentary, but registration is required. For additional information and to register, visit http://www.pma.com/webinar/webinar-web-June10-08.html.