Tom Vilsack Secretary of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) | Official Website
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the release of an updated guideline to strengthen documentation supporting animal-raising and environment-related claims on meat and poultry product labels. This initiative aims to enhance consumer protection against false and misleading labels, aligning with President Biden’s Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American economy.
“USDA continues to deliver on its commitment to fairness and choice for both farmers and consumers, and that means supporting transparency and high-quality standards,” stated Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “These updates will help to level the playing field for businesses who are truthfully using these claims and ensure people can trust the labels when they purchase meat and poultry products.”
Voluntary marketing claims such as “Raised Without Antibiotics,” “Grass-Fed,” “Free-Range,” “Raised using Regenerative Agriculture Practices,” and “Climate-Friendly” highlight specific aspects of animal raising or environmental sustainability practices. These claims must be substantiated by documentation reviewed by USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) before being included on product labels.
The FSIS last revised its guideline in 2019. The new update strongly encourages third-party certification to substantiate these claims, ensuring their accuracy through independent verification. The guideline also emphasizes more robust documentation for both environment-related and animal-raising claims.
For establishments using negative antibiotic claims like “Raised Without Antibiotics” or “No Antibiotics Ever,” the updated guideline recommends routine sampling, testing programs, or obtaining third-party certification that includes testing. These revisions were informed by sampling data, petitions, public comments, and stakeholder feedback.
In response to concerns about negative antibiotic claims, FSIS partnered with USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) last year to study these claims' veracity. The study involved collecting liver and kidney samples from 196 cattle across 84 slaughter establishments in 34 states. ARS analyzed these samples for over 180 veterinary drugs, including major antibiotics classes. Results indicated antibiotic residues in approximately 20% of samples from the "Raised Without Antibiotics" market.
FSIS's updated guidance addresses these findings by outlining enforcement actions against establishments making false or misleading negative antibiotic claims. Establishments with positive results have been advised to conduct root cause analyses, implement corrective actions, determine how antibiotics were introduced into animals, and prevent future misbranding.
Further details are available in the Federal Register Notice announcing the updated guideline's availability. FSIS plans to publish a peer-reviewed paper detailing complete study results soon.
The USDA remains committed to ongoing stakeholder engagement. Public comments on the updated guideline will be accepted for 60 days after its publication in the Federal Register.
For additional information about USDA initiatives under the Biden-Harris Administration aimed at transforming America’s food system towards more resilient local production, fairer markets, safe food access, climate-smart practices investments in rural infrastructure, equity within the department workforce visit www.usda.gov.
