MILWAUKEE — Shoppers in the U.S. will soon have more information about where their meat comes from after new federal labeling rules went into effect Thursday.
The rules require labels on steaks, ribs and other cuts of meat to say where the animal was born, raised and slaughtered. Earlier U.S. Department of Agriculture rules only required that countries of origin to be noted, so a package might say “Produce of U.S. and Canada.” Now, the label will specify “Born in Canada, raised and slaughtered in the United States.”
The new rules apply only to cuts of meat such as steaks and roasts, not to ground meat.
The USDA has required country of origin labels on seafood since 2005 and on meat and other products since 2009. The new rules for meat are meant to bring the U.S. in line with World Trade Organization standards after the organization determined the old labels discriminated against livestock imported from Canada and Mexico.
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