US laws crack down on animal welfare claims on beef labels

Under new laws, animal-raising claims used to market products will need to be approved by the US Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service.

Australian cattle industry leaders say raising claims here come with world-leading integrity systems and they are satisfied consumer interests, and those of producers, are being protected.

However, in both the US and Australia, producers argue legislative attention desperately needs to be directed to the labelling of plant-based and laboratory-grown meat copycat products.

The USDA announced yesterday it would put in place a new multi-step effort aimed at strengthening the substantiation of animal-raising claims - both to protect consumers and to 'level the playing field' for those doing the right thing.

"Consumers should be able to trust that the label claims they see on products bearing the USDA mark of inspection are truthful and accurate," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

The agency said it had received petitions from a wide range of stakeholders asking it to re-evaluate its oversight of animal-raising claims, specifically, how they are substantiated.

In addition, the veracity of negative antibiotics claims has come into question

So it will also start sampling antibiotic residues in cattle destined for the 'raised without antibiotics' market and says that will inform further decisions around a possible new verification sampling program.

A 2022 study run by the Antibiotic Resistance Action Center at the George Washington University showed that many of the 'raised without antibiotics' labels in the US were inaccurate.

Research leader Lance B Price said consumers pay a premium when purchasing these producers and should get what they are paying for.

As well, society as a whole should benefit from genuine reduction or elimination of antibiotic use in animal agriculture, he said.

Chair of the peak grassfed cattle producer body Cattle Australia, David Foote, said a similar move was not necessary here.

The antibiotic-free space was covered by the Certified Organic program, he said.

Australia also has a grassfed verification program, known as PCAS or the Pasturefed Cattle Assurance System, which was instigated by producers but is now run by auditors Ausmeat. PCAS standards also include two optional modules to support claims relating to freedom from antibiotics and hormone growth promotants.

However, Mr Foote said major beef brands had constructed their own programs and veracity standards around these raising claims and that provided a very strong level of confidence.

"Brands are putting their commercial integrity behind their claims," he said.

Mr Foote also made the point that Australia had the world-leading National Vendor Declaration program where producers stand behind their animal treatments and said the industry had great confidence in its integrity systems.