Help Stop Deceptive Labeling!
Dear John,
What image comes to mind when you see "free range," "pasture raised," or "humanely raised" on the label of a meat or poultry product? Cows contentedly grazing in an open field? Pigs basking in the sunshine? Chickens pecking at insects in the yard?
What you probably don't think of is animals housed under cramped conditions indoors, with no opportunity to go outside or only occasional access to a small barren lot. If that's true, you may be disappointed to learn that the USDA allows producers to use these and similar claims without requiring them to adhere to meaningful standards--producers can call their products "free range" without providing the animals any range, or "pasture raised" without providing any pasture, and they can market their products as "humanely raised" while providing care no better than the most basic industry guidelines.
AWI has investigated the label approval process of the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) for these claims to determine if consumer expectations are being met. The investigations have revealed insufficient review by the agency of these high-value animal-raising claims; the agency thus allows producers to mislead consumers and hurt farmers who actually do provide animals with better care. In fact, the FSIS has approved a majority of such claims based solely on brief affidavits--or no supporting evidence whatsoever--from the producer. Moreover, the agency allows producers to create their own definitions of the terms used in the claims, leading to confusion and inconsistency that harms consumers, higher-welfare farmers, and animals.
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