The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued a proposed rulemaking to close the "Product of the U.S.A." loophole that meatpackers use to purposefully mask the identify of their comingled beef products.
Under current regulations, imported beef product can be brought into the US., undergo a "significant transformation," - which can be as insignificant as trimming or rewrapping - and then claim the "Product of the U.S.A." label. This is a wholly unacceptable practice that intentionally misleads consumers.
The proposed rule announced today allows the voluntary “Product of USA” or “Made in the USA” label claim to be used on meat, poultry and egg products only when they are derived from animals born, raised, slaughtered and processed in the United States.
The proposed rule follows a request made by the U.S. Cattlemen's Association (USCA) in a petition for rulemaking submitted to USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service in 2019.
USCA President Justin Tupper issued the following statement:
"In our 2019 petition for rulemaking to FSIS, USCA called out the practice of applying ‘Product of the USA’ and ‘Made in the USA’ labeling claims on beef products that the food safety agency itself admitted could have come from other countries...more
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