USDA pushes forward label updates for cultured-meat, uncured claims, Nutrition Facts

USDA is working through a backlog of much-needed updates to labels for meat and poultry, and anticipates publishing this year or early next several proposed rules, including for uncured and cultivated products, according to an agency official.

The agency also anticipates finalizing within the next year a proposed rule to modernize the Nutrition Facts panel for meat and poultry products, said Jeff Canavan, USDA deputy director of Food Safety and Inspection Service’s (FSIS) Labeling and Program Delivery Division.

Speaking at Prime Label Consultants’ 2024 Food Label Conference in Washington this month, Canavan also offered compliance guidance for the voluntary US origin claims final rule published in March, which goes into effect in January 2026.

Tighter restrictions of uncured labeling address new technology

Acknowledging that USDA’s regulations of uncured products, including when products can make a “No Nitrate or Nitrate Added” claim, “are fairly dated,” Canavan said the agency is developing a proposed rule that should be published “if not this year, then early next year.”