The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued a final rule regarding the voluntary “Product of USA” labeling for meat and poultry products sold in American grocery stores to better align the claim “with consumer understanding.”
For several years, Americans would stroll through grocery store aisles and select a package of meat or poultry with a large label reading “Product of USA” — but that wasn’t quite true.
These deceptive labeling loopholes allowed producers to sell meat and other animal products imported from foreign countries, such as Australia, Canada, and Brazil, as products “of the USA” while American consumers were none the wiser. A survey conducted in 2022 and commissioned by the USDA found that nearly two-thirds of consumers were under the assumption that “Product of the USA” labels were only used on animal products when all or most of the production took place in the U.S.
Under the new rule, producers will only be allowed to place “Product of the USA” labels on meat, poultry, or animal products that were born, raised, slaughtered, and processed in America, but it isn’t scheduled to go into effect until January 1, 2026. Despite the lengthy transition period, the agency encouraged producers to begin complying with the new rules immediately.
“USDA’s final ‘Product of USA’ 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,” the USDA said on Monday. “The rule will prohibit misleading U.S. origin labeling in the market, and help ensure that the information that consumers receive about where their food comes from is truthful.”
“This final rule will ensure that when consumers see ‘Product of USA’ they can trust the authenticity of that label and know that every step involved, from birth to processing, was done here in America,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a USDA press release announcing the rule change.
American farmers are hailing the decision as a “step in the right direction for transparency for beef labeling laws,” though Canadian ranchers are concerned that the new rules could impact the country’s beef industry.
