'Natural' Claims for Meat, Poultry Under Review

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced it will initiate a new rulemaking process for “all-natural” product claims made by meat and poultry suppliers, as a result of a petition filed by Hormel Foods in October. Under the USDA‘s current rules, manufacturers can advertise meats and poultry as “natural” if they are minimally processed and no artificial or synthetic ingredients are added after slaughter. In August, the USDA‘s Food Safety and Inspection Service had expanded that definition to allow added sugars, corn-based sodium lactate and oleoresins. Hormel‘s petition argued that USDA is providing inconsistent guidance on the claim, and that more stringent standards should be adopted and enforced in order to build consumer confidence in the label. The agency has opened the issue for public comment through Janu. 11, 2007, and will host a public meeting on the issue on Dec. 12, 2006.