FSIS Petition Case Summary

On June 27, 2022, PETA submitted a petition to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) pursuant to the federal Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. § 553(e), 9 C.F.R. § 392.1, et seq., requesting that FSIS commence rulemaking proceedings to eliminate any labels relating to claims about the conditions in which animals were raised from its label-approval program.

It is well established that FSIS has no jurisdiction to regulate producers that raise animals. The agency’s authorizing statutes, the Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA), 21 U.S.C. §§ 601–695, and the federal Poultry Products Inspection Act (PPIA), 21 U.S.C. §§ 451–472, grant the USDA authority to regulate and inspect slaughterhouses but not the on-farm treatment of animals raised for meat. We argue that as a result, FSIS has exceeded its statutory authority by construing its authority to ensure that food labels are not misleading far too broadly, encompassing activities entirely outside the purview of these statutes.

The FMIA and the PPIA prohibit the labeling of meat products and poultry products, respectively, that is “false or misleading in any particular.” To implement these statutes, the USDA’s label-approval regulations, 9 C.F.R. § 412.1, specify that “[n]o final label may be used on any product unless the label has been submitted for approval to [and approved by] the FSIS Labeling and Program Delivery Staff.” Among the labels the regulations require companies to submit for approval are “claims regarding the raising of animals.” Id. § 412.1(e). To approve a claim, FSIS relies entirely on a company’s own written submission accompanying the proposed label.

Due to its lack of jurisdiction, FSIS has no way to inspect and verify the claims companies make about the conditions in which animals were raised, such as “humanely raised,” “raised in a stress-free environment,” or “free to roam.” As a result, companies may submit claims that are completely false or grossly misleading and still garner approval from the agency. By approving labels without confirming, or even having the ability to confirm, the information supporting the claims on them, FSIS is allowing companies to make variable, unverifiable, and false claims, thereby also violating its statutory responsibility to ensure that labels on meat products are not false or misleading. By gaining agency approval, companies can then charge a surplus for “humanely” raised products, as the industry’s own surveys reveal that consumers are often willing to pay more for products they are led to believe were made without harming animals, which is among the most important factors in their purchasing decisions.

In light of this disparity and the agency’s lack of jurisdiction, rendering it unable to remedy this problem through improved regulation, we are urging FSIS to amend its regulations so that it will no longer be allowed to approve animal-raising claims on product labels and to rescind its guidelines for the approval of such labels.

Our petition pointed to four examples of on-farm investigations that expose FSIS’ approval of false and misleading claims about the conditions in which animals used in a company’s products had been raised. These investigations were conducted at Plainville Farms, Butterball, Culver Duck Farms, and Maple Leaf Farms. They demonstrate the wide gap between what a company may claim is humane treatment and what the public considers such treatment to be, leading to consumer deception and confusion.

Turkey products from Plainville Farms include labels stating the birds were “humanely raised” and raised “in a stress-free environment.” Yet a 2021 PETA undercover investigation revealed workers engaging in vicious acts of abuse against turkeys at several of Plainville’s suppliers’ farms. The video documented workers kicking and stomping on them; throwing them through the air by the wing, neck, head, or snood; tying their snoods together and laughing; hitting the birds with an iron bar; standing on their heads; choking and throttling them; and using the turkeys’ bodies to mimic sex acts. The abuse we documented was not an isolated incident but rather a pattern of physical abuse perpetrated by many workers, including supervisors, throughout the time of the investigation.

In October 2022, we sent a follow-up letter to FSIS after Pennsylvania State Police announced cruelty-to-animals charges against former Plainville workers based on the findings of our undercover investigation. The 141 charges ultimately filed against 12 men in six counties included six felonies and amounted to the most charges and defendants in any case of cruelty to farmed animals in U.S. history. Nine of the defendants have since pleaded guilty to cruelty to animals, and eight of them were sentenced to supervised probation, during which they’re prohibited from obtaining any employment that involves “caring for animals.” Yet Plainville continues to advertise the turkeys it sells as “humanely raised” in a “stress-free environment” with its FSIS-approved label.

PETA awaits FSIS’ response.