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Agency Response: The COOL statute defines the term
“retailer” as having the meaning given the term in section 1(b)
of the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act of 1930 (7 U.S.C.
499a(b)). Therefore, the Agency does not have the authority to
develop an alternative definition based on SNAP as it is not
consistent with the COOL statute. As stated in the March 12,
2013, proposed rule, the Agency believes that the revised
definition of a retailer more closely mirrors the definition in
the PACA and agrees that this definition is less ambiguous.
Accordingly, the Agency has not adopted the alternative
recommendations.
Recordkeeping
Summary of Comments: Several commenters stated that they
were unclear as to whether current producer affidavits systems
will satisfy the regulatory requirements of the proposed rule.
Agency Response: The proposed rule did not alter the
recordkeeping requirements of suppliers or retailers.
Therefore, the use of affidavits for conveying origin
information is still permitted under this final rule.
Raised
Summary of Comments: Several commenters suggested that the
Agency redefine the term “raised” to refer to the period of time
encompassing a majority of an animal’s life. The commenters
further stated that compared to the retail value of beef, time
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