People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) filed a petition with USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) on June 27, arguing the agency cannot regulate “humanely raised” meat labels seen on specific packaging.
According to the letter submitted by PETA, “FSIS has no way to inspect and verify the claims companies make concerning the conditions in which the animals were raised, such as ‘humanely raised,’ ‘raised in a stress-free environment,’ or ‘free to roam.’ As a result, companies may submit claims that are completely false or grossly misleading and still garner approval from the agency.”
PETA asserts FSIS is allowing companies to make false claims, violating its responsibility to ensure labels on meat products are not false or misleading. The petition points to on-farm investigations at four companies that expose FSIS’ approval of the humane claims on the label and what the public perceives as humane treatment.
“In light of this disparity and the agency’s lack of jurisdiction, and thus the agency’s inability to remedy this problem through improved regulation, PETA urges FSIS to amend its regulations to no longer allow for the approval of animal raising claims on product labels and to rescind the guidelines for the approval of such labels,” the petition states.
