'Made in the USA' regulations on meat are proposed by Biden administration

TOPEKA (KSNT)- The White House is asking the United States Department of Agriculture to set higher standards for meat produced in the U.S.

This week, the Biden administration proposed new requirements for how meat like pork, beef and chicken is labeled for sale. The new rule would allow producers to label their product as "Made in the USA" or “Product of USA" only if the animals have been raised and slaughtered in the U.S.

Jackson County resident Mike Ewing only buys local meat. He says this new regulation could help customers find locally-sourced meat, which he says is the way it should be.

"It means that people will be really buying stuff from the USA, which is what it should be," Ewing said.

Right now, producers who raise animals abroad and only bring them into the country to be processed can label their meat as "Made in the USA." It’s a practice domestic producers say puts them at a huge disadvantage.

United States Agriculture Secretary, Tom Vilsack, said in a statement this week, when American consumers see that label at the grocery stor, they expect it to mean what it says. One local business owner agrees.

"So, in this case, only product that has been on U.S. Soil from birth until processing is going to be marked that way and it's just going to be less misleading for consumers," Drew Forster, owner of Farview Farms Meats Co. said.

Forester says his business only sells the best quality meats from local farmers in Kansas and Nebraska. He says it's important to offer the best products for his customers - so they continue to “shop local.”

"We're looking for the highest quality we can possibly get, we want to get it as local as we can possibly get so we can bring those things together for our customers," Forster said. "It's very important for our customers, especially now, to look for something that they want to buy something local, that they want to help the small guy."

As for Ewing, he says the issue is clear.

"It's crazy that you'd bring food from halfway around the world and mark it as in the USA, that just doesn't make any sense," Ewing said.

This isn’t the first time this issue has come up on the national level. In 2009, the USDA finalized labeling standards for meat requiring producers label its country of origin. But the world trade organization blocked the implementation, after pushback from Canada and Mexico.