The Organization for Competitive Markets (OCM) and American Grassfed Association (AGA) have petitioned the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) to change its standard for making a “Product of the USA” claim on meat and meat products.

Currently, FSIS allows the statement “Product of USA” if either (1) the country to which the product is exported requires this phrase and the product is processed in the US or (2) the product “is processed in the US (i.e., is of domestic origin).”  This policy is articulated in USDA’s Food Standards and Labeling Policy Book.

The OCM/AGA petition seeks to change the FSIS “Product of the USA” standard to no longer state that the claim can be made if the product is merely processed in the US.  The new standard would require any “significant ingredients” (i.e., ingredients including meat, vegetables, fruits, dairy products, but excluding spices and flavorings) in the inspected product to be of domestic origin.  The proposed language is intended to stop the current practice of labeling foreign, imported meat and meat products as being “Product of the USA” simply by passing such products through a USDA-inspected plant, which OCM/AGA states is the current practice and is harming American farmers.  This is likely to be a compelling narrative for the Trump Administration and would make the FSIS standard more aligned with the Federal Trade Commission’s standard on “Made in the USA” claims.