Perdue Farms LLC petitioned the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) in March of 2023 requesting that the service conduct a rulemaking process to define separate “free range” and “pasture-raised” claims for meat and poultry products. In the more than a year since it was submitted, the Perdue Farms petition has received more comments than any other, most favoring the petition’s adoption. The petition also requests that FSIS update its guidance on claims related to living/raising conditions to ensure that the claims align with consumer expectations.
It is pending in the FSIS Office of Policy and Program Development. The latest to weigh in is the Organic Trade Association (OTA) with comments asking FSIS for more work before it acts on the Perdue Farms petition. “OTA believes there exists a need for greater clarity and consistency in industry use and understanding by the consumer of the terms free-range and pasture-raised,” the group says in recently filed comments.
“From our long history of advocating for continuous improvement of organic standards, OTA understands the importance of clear and consistent standards and the challenges a market faces in their insufficiency or absence. “For many years, OTA and the organic sector requested more explicit standards regarding animal welfare to ensure the USDA organic seal represented consumer expectations of how organic meat, dairy, and eggs are produced. We applauded the USDA’s Organic Livestock Production Stand.
