Food & Agriculture

CFA Urges USDA Not to Wait for More Evidence to Reform Misleading “Product of USA” Rules for Meat Products

Consumer Federation of America submitted the following comments on the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service’s proposal to study consumers’ understanding of and demand for “Product of USA” labeling on meat products. As the comments explain, the existing labeling rule allows sellers to mislabel foreign meat products, and the agency should not need a survey to tell it that an unacceptable number of consumers misunderstand what the “Product of USA” label actually signifies on meat products. However, some of the proposed experiments may shed light on the desirability of more effective, comprehensive COOL rules. According to a survey commissioned by CFA, 88% of U.S. consumers favor requiring meat to be labeled with information about where animals were born, raised and slaughtered.