Washington – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the release of updated guidance with recommendations to strengthen documentation supporting animal-rearing or environment-related claims on meat or poultry product labels. Today’s action builds on the important work USDA has already done to protect consumers from false and misleading labeling and implement President Biden’s executive order on promoting competition in the U.S. economy.
“USDA continues to deliver on its commitment to fairness and choice for farmers and consumers, and that means supporting transparency and high-quality standards,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “These updates will help level the playing field for businesses that use these claims honestly and ensure people can trust labels when they buy meat and poultry products.”
Animal raising claims, such as “raised without antibiotics,” “grass-fed,” and “free-range,” and environmental claims, such as “raised using regenerative farming practices” and “climate-friendly,” are voluntary marketing statements that highlight some aspect of how the animals from which meat and poultry products are sourced or how producers maintain or improve the land or otherwise implement environmentally sustainable practices. Documents submitted by companies in support of these claims are reviewed by the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), and only after the agency approves these claims can they be included on the labels of meat and poultry products sold to consumers.
FSIS last updated its guidance on these statements in 2019.
In the updated guidance, FSIS strongly encourages the use of third-party certification to substantiate animal husbandry or environmental claims. Third-party certification of animal husbandry or environmental claims helps ensure that such claims are truthful and not misleading because independent organizations can verify that farms meet standards for animal husbandry and environmental management. The revised guidance also emphasizes the need for more reliable documentation for environmental and animal husbandry claims.
Additionally, the updated guidance recommends that facilities that use “negative” antibiotic claims (such as “raised without antibiotics” or “never given antibiotics”) implement routine sampling and testing programs to test animals for antibiotic use prior to slaughter, or obtain third-party certification that includes testing. The revisions were based on sampling data, petitions, public comments in response to those petitions, and feedback received from a broad range of stakeholders.
In light of concerns about negative claims about antibiotics, FSIS announced last year that it would collaborate with the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) on a study to assess the veracity of these claims. FSIS collected liver and kidney samples from 196 eligible cattle from 84 slaughterhouses in 34 states, and ARS analyzed the samples using a method that targets more than 180 veterinary drugs, including all major antibiotic classes. The study found that approximately 20% of samples from “antibiotic-free” markets contained antibiotic residues.
The actions FSIS is taking today by issuing this guidance address these concerning findings and make clear that FSIS will take enforcement action against any facility found to be making false or misleading negative antibiotic claims. In addition, FSIS has informed these facilities of the positive results of the ARS-FSIS study and is recommending that they conduct a root cause analysis and implement corrective actions. FSIS is also recommending that these facilities determine how the antibiotics entered the animals and take appropriate steps to ensure that future products are not misbranded. For more information about the study, see the Federal Register notice announcing the publication of the updated guidance.
FSIS and ARS will publish a peer-reviewed paper with the full results of the study in the near future. The findings highlight the need for more rigorous substantiation of such claims. These sampling results may lead the agency to conduct additional testing. FSIS has the authority to collect samples at any time it believes a product is mislabeled with any of the claims covered by the guidance. In addition, FSIS may consider additional actions in the future, including random sampling and rulemaking, to further strengthen substantiation of animal-rearing and environmental claims.
USDA is committed to ongoing stakeholder engagement. For more information, see the Federal Register notice. The updated guidance will be open for public comment for 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.
USDA impacts the lives of all Americans every day in many positive ways. Under the Biden-Harris Administration, USDA is transforming America’s food system with a greater focus on increasing the resiliency of local and regional food production, providing fairer markets for all producers, ensuring all communities have access to safe, healthy and nutritious food, opening new markets and revenue streams for farmers and producers using climate-smart food and forestry practices, making historic investments in infrastructure and clean energy capacity in rural America, and working to achieve equity across the sector by removing systemic barriers and building a more representative workforce. To learn more, visit www.usda.gov.
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