The US Food Safety Inspection Service has begun consultations on bringing country-of-origin marketing regulations into line with changes recently introduced by the Agricultural Marketing Service.

FSIS is seeking comments on the proposal, which would see retail packages of meat and poultry - which are regulated by FSIS - be labelled with country-of-origin information. Under the plan, suppliers would be compelled to provide retailers with country-of-origin details.

At the beginning of August, AMS issued interim rules requiring country-of-origin labelling on meat, fish and perishable agricultural food products in order to meet the guidelines set out by Congress in the 2008 Farm Bill.

FSIS and AMS are divisions within the US Department of Agriculture. SAIA and AMS will receive comments until 30 September, after which a long-term policy decision will be made.