Meat + Poultry - August 2007 - 94

Taking issue
with the rules
Potential FSIS 'natural' claim modification
sparks industry feedback
By Eric Schroeder
meatpoultry@sosland.com

M

ore than 10 months after
Austin, Minn.-based Hormel
Foods Corp. filed a petition
with the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture's
Food Safety and Inspection Service
objecting to modifications to "natural"
claims, the jury is still out on the next
step in the rulemaking process.
At the heart of Hormel's Oct. 9 complaint was the FSIS's decision to allow
sodium lactate to be present in products labeled "natural." Hormel said sodium lactate was a preservative, with

preservatives being prohibited both
by the original "natural" policy established in 1982 and by the 2005 version,
which retained the two basic premises
- product must not contain an artificial
flavor, coloring ingredient or chemical preservative, or any other artificial
or synthetic ingredient, and product
may not be more than "minimally processed" - established in 1982.
Hormel also objected to the FSIS referring food manufacturers to the National Organic Policy to identify ingredients that may be allowed in meat and
poultry products labeled "natural."
In a change of pace from its normal
procedure on codifying a revised definition, the FSIS held a public meeting
Dec. 12 in which participants discussed
points raised in the petition and broader issues relating to the voluntary claim
"natural." In doing so, the FSIS sought
to gather comments before beginning
the rulemaking process.
Since the meeting was held in December, the agency received more
than 50 comments on the subject. The public comment
period was scheduled to end
on Jan. 11, but was extended
to March 5 to provide time for
more considered submissions.
However, as of mid-July, the agency was still accepting comments on
the subject. Steven Cohen, a spokesman for the FSIS, said the agency con-

tinues to accept comments in an effort to
be as thorough as possible in developing
the framework for the claim.
Cohen said the responses represent
"a pretty broad cross section of what
the term natural should be." He said the
agency now will consider the comments
as it works to develop a proposed rule,
which the FSIS hopes to have in place
by September or October of this year.
Response to the issue has been
widespread, with everyone from industry associations to individual consumers weighing in on what steps the
FSIS should consider.

Defining function
According to the American Dietetic
Association, a labeling claim has two
functions: be useful and meaningful
to consumers in choosing foods, and
achieve a food producer's desired marketing goals.
"Before initiating rulemaking, ADA
urges the USDA to conduct consumer
research studies to better understand
public perception of the term 'natural,'"
Mary Hager, senior manager of regulatory affairs for the ADA, wrote in her
comments on behalf of the ADA. "While
it seems intuitive that a meat product
bearing this claim would be minimally
processed, not contain synthetic additives and even be packaged in a particular way, we do not know whether the
public shares this view or ranks each
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