The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today released a proposed rule with new regulatory requirements on the “Product of USA” label claim. The proposed rule 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.
“USDA AMS regulations already require that chicken sold at retail clearly and accurately identify the product’s country of origin,” said NCC President Mike Brown in response to the announcement. “Consumers seeking USA chicken can already find the ‘Hatched, Raised & Harvested in the U.S.’ label on American chicken. More than 99% of the chicken we consume is of domestic origin and can easily be identified.”
Under the proposed rule, the “Product of USA” label claim would continue to be voluntary. It would also remain eligible for generic label approval, meaning it would not need to be pre-approved by USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) before it could be used on regulated product, but would require supporting documentation to be on file for agency inspection personnel to verify. The rulemaking also proposes to allow other voluntary U.S. origin claims we see on meat, poultry and egg products sold in the marketplace. These claims would need to include a description on the package of all preparation and processing steps that occurred in the United States upon which the claim is made.
The proposed rule will be open for public comment for 60 days after publishing in the Federal Register.
