USDA Says Organic Livestock Producers Can Tout Their Drug-Free Meats

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is allowing organic meat producers to use new language to advertise how livestock and poultry were raised without using beta-agonist drugs like ractopamine. The drugs, long banned in the raising of animals for export, continue to be used to produce domestic meats because animals gain weight while eating less. As much as 80 percent of pigs raised in the U.S. are given the drug. But from now on, consumers will see the phrase “produced without ractopamine” on packages of Organic Buttercroft bacon from Tendergrass Farms, and soon on similar products from other companies.