Udall Urges USDA to Beef Up Labeling Standards

Press Release

UDALL URGES USDA TO BEEF UP LABELING STANDARDS

U. S. Representative Tom Udall, D-N.M., announced today that he has issued a letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Mike Johanns urging stricter standards for labeling grass-fed beef.

The proposed USDA guideline for grass-fed marketing claims allows grass or forage to be 80% or more of the primary energy source for the animal's life cycle. Udall is concerned that the USDA language is too broad and could allow producers to feed grass for a short time at the end of a predominantly grain-fed animal's life cycle and then market the beef as grass-fed.

"Many people are paying premium prices to purchase grass-fed beef," Udall said. "The only way to ensure that consumers get what they pay for is to enact a stricter labeling protocol for grass-fed beef marketing claims.

"I have proposed more narrowly defined language to clarify the grass-fed beef marketing claims standard. The watered-down criterion for grass-fed beef labeling is inaccurate and misrepresents the true lifetime feeding pattern of an animal that has only been finished on grass. In order to be marketed as grass-fed, a beef production animal should be raised on grass throughout the entire life cycle," he added.

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