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USDA launches effort to strengthen substantiation of animal-raising claims

The USDA has announced plans to implement a multi-step effort to strengthen the verification of animal-raising claims. 

Sandra Eskin, undersecretary for USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service says the move builds on the work USDA has already done to ensure label integrity. “We’ve heard from many, many stakeholders that the substantiation that we say is necessary to support a claim is just inadequate,” she says.

Eskin says one of the jobs of FSIS is to guarantee labels on food products are truthful and not misleading.  She says consumers should feel confident they are getting the product they purchase.  “A lot of products that have animal-raising claims are premium and you pay for that,” she says.  “So we really want to do a deep analysis of the claims that we’ve approved, the requirements that we have, and see if we need to strengthen them.”

She tells Brownfield FSIS and the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service are doing a joint study looking at animals “raised without antibiotics” after an independent study, published in Science last year, found a number of animals destined for that market had antibiotic residue.  If USDA finds similar results, she says there are several options. “We can consider requiring that companies that want to make those claims would have to submit test results to support their claim,” she says.  “We could also take what is now a sort of exploratory testing project with ARS and turn it into a more comprehensive verification program.”

FSIS will also be issuing a revised industry guideline to recommend companies strengthen the documentation submitted to the agency to substantiate animal-raising claims and will encourage the use of third-party certification to verify claims.

Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack says the USDA is taking action to ensure the integrity of animal-raising claims to help level the playing field for producers who are truthfully using these practices. 

Dena Jones with the Animal Welfare Institute says the announcement was welcomed.  She says the current approval process is inadequate, and allowing producers to make animal welfare claims without adhering to higher standards harms animals, higher-welfare farmers, and consumers who seek out these products.

USDA says many of these efforts are already underway, and the agency hopes to have guidelines finalized by the end of the year.

AUDIO: Sandra Eskin, Under Secretary, USDA Food Safety Inspection Service