The US Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service has opened a consultation on extending and revising the information collection associated with the Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) program. The notice was published in the Federal Register on September 11, 2026, and concerns the administrative requirements used to support the existing labeling system.
COOL requires covered retailers to provide origin information for a number of food products, including peanuts, pecans and macadamia nuts, as well as fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables and other agricultural commodities. The current information collection approval is due to expire on December 30, 2026.
The notice does not introduce new country-of-origin rules for nuts. Instead, it forms part of the process for maintaining the recordkeeping and reporting framework behind the existing program. The consultation is nevertheless relevant for suppliers and retailers handling covered nut products in the US market because COOL documentation forms part of compliance and traceability requirements.
