Bruce Springsteen’s popular 1984 hit “Born in the USA” would not be good enough for USDA’s new “Product of USA” label. Mr. Springsteen would have to change the title to “Born, Raised, Harvested, and Processed in the USA”, and I think we can all agree that doesn’t have quite the same ring to it.
“It’s about doing right by our consumers in this country,” explains Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins, “by clearing up all confusion about what ‘Made in the USA’ actually means.”
As of the first of the year, the “Product of USA” rule means the label on your groceries finally means exactly what most people assume it means.
“It means for meat and poultry products to boast that they are, in fact, a product of the USA, then the animals now have to have been entirely born, raised, harvested, and processed here in this country, which is a change. It all has to happen in this country. Not some of it, not part of it here, and then it goes somewhere else, and then comes back, but every bit of it, and that’s what the label that you see is all about.”
USDA began a public awareness campaign on National Ag Day to promote this new, voluntary label for producers to take advantage of the opportunity and for consumers to know what they’re getting at the store.
Rollins says there will be no more foreign beef “passed off as American beef.”
“This new label is about enhancing competitiveness for our producers, our great American producers, by leveling the playing field and increasing transparency through truthful labeling, because what our ranchers raise in this country is the very best in the entire world. It is why, as we’re opening up these markets in the UK and Australia and others, more countries want our beef.”
The American Farm Bureau and National Cattlemen’s Beef Association are both in support of the Product of USA rule, calling the voluntary nature of the rule a great business prospect for producers. The National Pork Producers Council have expressed concerns that the regulation will strain the relationships between the United States and its trading partners, particularly Canada and Mexico.
