USDA Announces Certification Program for Meat Without Beta Agonists

New program for livestock producers may permit them to market their products with a special "Never Fed Beta Agonists" label.

A new U.S. Department of Agriculture certification program for livestock producers that will allow them to market their products with a special “Never Fed Beta Agonists” label, providing they are able to document to the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service that they haven’t given growth enhancers to their animals and that the meat contains no residues of the controversial drugs.

If successful, the new certification program could open up previously closed or restricted markets in Russia, South Korea, China, Taiwan and possibly others to U.S. meat imports. Since February, when Russian authorities prohibited the importation of meat containing ractopamine, the value of U.S. beef exports to Russia have plummeted to a fraction of the record $300 million in beef exports in 2012. To read more, click HERE.

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