What constitutes "naturally raised?"

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is seeking comments on a proposed voluntary standard for a naturally-raised marketing claim for livestock and meat. USDA received over 19,000 comments when it was formulating its recently-released grass-fed claim.

Increasingly, livestock and meat producers are using production or processing claims to distinguish their products in the marketplace. AMS, through its voluntary certification and audit programs, verifies the accuracy of these claims.

The proposed standard will establish the minimum requirements for those producers who choose to operate a USDA-verified program involving a naturally-raised claim. The naturally-raised marketing claim will be a voluntary program.

Comments received on or before Jan. 28, 2008, will be considered. Complete details can be found in the Federal Register.

Natural Raised Marketing Claim