The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) issued a compliance guideline this week for substantiating animal-raising claims on labels for meat and poultry products. Animal-raising claims, which include statements about antibiotic use, specialty feeds, caging and handling, animal welfare claims, and other husbandry issues, are becoming increasingly popular on labels and point-of-sale retail labeling. Animal-raising claims are considered “special statements or claims” that trigger FSIS prior review and approval by FSIS. The compliance guideline clarifies FSIS expectations for the type of documentation required to substantiate animal raising claims and provides guidance on specific types of animal raising claims.
In general, most animal raising claims will require the following documentation:
- A detailed description of how the raising claim is maintained and controlled from birth to harvest, or the period referenced in the claim;
- A description of how the animals are raised in support of the claim;
- Information on animal and product tracing and segregation during slaughter, processing, and distribution; and,
- Certificate of a third-party claim, where applicable.
The compliance guideline marks a significant expansion of published FSIS policy on animal-raising claims and will be of interest to meat and poultry processors, retailers, and restaurants making these types of claims. Compliance guidelines are technically nonbinding documents, but they explain FSIS’s current thinking and effectively represent the policies applied when the agency reviews and approves labels bearing these claims. A complete copy of the compliance guideline may be found here. FSIS is accepting comments on the guidance until December 5, 2016.
