US Cattle Producers and Consumers Deserve Accurate Meat Labels
(WASHINGTON) - In October, the United States Cattlemen's
Association (USCA) submitted a petition for rulemaking to USDA's Food Safety
and Inspection Service requesting the use of certain labeling claims,
such as “Product of USA,” “Made in USA,” and “USA Beef,”
to be used exclusively for meat products derived from cattle born, raised, and
slaughtered in the United States. Senators John Thune and Mike Rounds recently introduced a bill in Congress that would aim to accomplish the same thing.
(USDA is accepting comments on our petition until
December 24 - click HERE!)
USCA maintains a solid record of advancing solutions that would
provide a pathway forward for truthful, transparent labeling on U.S. beef
products. We are committed to working with any industry stakeholders who
sincerely wish to increase truth in labeling at the meat counter.
In 2015, USCA and
key Members of the U.S. Senate championed a measure that would have
ensured there was no confusion as to the origin of beef products in the retail
marketplace. This bill would have kept the program at USDA's Agricultural
Marketing Service, and prevent the misuse of the label that we are seeing
today. Both the National
Cattlemen's Beef Association and RCALF-USA opposed that solution, the rule
was entirely repealed, and the program went to USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service, which is where our petition currently resides.
Warm tidings of cheer are nice during the holiday season, but the
problems and distortions cattle producers endure in the cattle marketplace
are real. Progress and solutions need to advance, and USCA won't rest until
transparency and true price discovery is a reality for every cattle
producer across the U.S.
Source: USCA