New food labels may surprise shoppers.
Supermarkets will feature new labels and signs in the meat case and produce aisle, but they may leave shoppers puzzled. New rules took effect last week requiring meat, produce and some nuts to be labeled with the country of their origin. The rules have long been sought by U.S. farmers and ranchers, who think they will boost sale of U.S. foods. However, many lawmakers and consumer advocates say USDA's labeling rules are not stringent enough.A whole fresh chicken that is cooked requires labeling, but a precooked, whole chicken does not. Hormel's Spam doesn't have to be labeled either. Both the cooked chicken and the Spam are considered processed products under USDA rules, and therefore are exempt from the labeling requirement. Also, USDA is allowing meat processors and stores to list more than one country as the meat's origin if the packer slaughters livestock born in different countries.
Iowa pork producers import young pigs from Canada and then fatten them for slaughter, so pork processors want flexibility to label meat as a product of both the United States and Canada so they would not have to slaughter U.S.- and Canadian-born hogs separately.
Under USDA's rules, pork can be labeled as a product of both the United States and Canada so long as the packer that processed the meat slaughtered at least one Canadian-born hog that day.
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| Publication: | Food & Drink Weekly |
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| Date: | Oct 6, 2008 |
| Words: | 229 |
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