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Tell the USDA to Protect Consumers from Misleading Food Labels

Dear John,

Recent investigations by AWI into the label approval process of the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) revealed insufficient review by the agency of high-value animal-raising claims such as "free range," "pasture raised," and "humanely raised." 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.

The USDA recently announced plans to strengthen its label approval process by recommending that companies provide greater substantiation of animal-raising claims and encouraging the use of third-party certification to verify these claims. While this is an important step in the right direction, the department must go further by requiring, not merely encouraging third-party verification of such claims.

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What You Can Do
Please tell Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack that the USDA should require producers to attain third-party certification for animal welfare claims to verify that the level of animal care provided actually exceeds that of conventional industry practices. ([link removed])

Sincerely,

Zack Strong
Senior Staff Attorney, Farmed Animal Program

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Photo by David Duran

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Animal Welfare Institute
900 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE, Washington, DC 20003
(202) 337-2332 | www.awionline.org ([link removed])

The Animal Welfare Institute is a not-for-profit organization, founded in 1951 and dedicated to reducing animal suffering caused by people. We seek better treatment of animals everywhere: in the laboratory, on the farm, in commerce, at home, and in the wild.

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900 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE, Washington, DC 20003