President Trump has ordered a review that could pave the way for mandatory country-of-origin labelling on beef on sale in the US.
In announcements made on Friday (4 September), the President separately directed officials to expand market access for ranchers seeking to process and sell their own meat.
In an executive order, Trump said US Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins must, within 90 days, “review all statutory and regulatory authorities that may permit the establishment of mandatory country-of-origin labelling for beef products”.
The review, to be conducted in consultation with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, must also include an economic analysis of the policy’s impact under current market conditions.
Based on that assessment, Rollins could amend or issue rules requiring mandatory country-of-origin labelling for beef, if existing law allows, or develop legislative recommendations with the White House for Congress to consider.
The move is part of a broader order aimed at supporting US ranchers as the national cattle herd sits at a 75-year low and beef demand has risen over the past decade.
According to media reports, speaking at the White House signing ceremony, Trump said his administration would set up a programme to allow ranchers to sell meat directly to consumers and reduce the sector’s dependence on the “big four” processors that dominate most US meat processing.
In a separate executive order signed the same day, Trump said American ranchers want to “butcher, process, package, and sell their meat to consumers across state lines” while maintaining food-safety standards and avoiding “monopolistic practices by meat processors”.
The order says it is US policy to “reduce barriers to ranchers processing their own product for sale to consumers” and expand market opportunities for American-raised livestock and meat.
To do that, Trump directed the USDA to make “the maximum use of existing authorities” to widen interstate market access for eligible meat products.
Measures include increasing participation in state-federal inspection programmes, creating technical assistance for small processors, streamlining compliance processes and setting up a guaranteed loan programme for small and regional beef processors.
Trump had signalled earlier in the UK that he was authorising farmers and ranchers to process their own meat.
The Meat Institute responded cautiously. In a statement issued on 28 August, the trade body argued “America’s farmers and ranchers already have multiple pathways to process and market the livestock they raise”.
The group said allowing uninspected meat to be sold commercially was the “wrong approach, and risks undermining this country’s reputation for producing the safest meat products in the world”.
The Meat Institute has also pushed back against the idea of mandatory country-of-origin labelling.
In July, it cited a study by US agri research group Decision Innovation Solutions estimating reinstating mandatory country-of-origin labelling for beef and pork would add more than $1bn in annual supply-chain costs, much of which would be passed on to consumers.
At the time, Meat Institute president and CEO Julie Anna Potts said the move would “raise the price of meat for consumers already struggling to afford groceries”. The existing voluntary “Product of USA” label already gives shoppers a way to identify meat born, raised and processed in the US, Potts added.
The latest orders come weeks after Trump temporarily eased tariffs on imported beef used for ground products, a move he said would cut prices for consumers.
Last week, The US Department of Justice expanded its anti-trust investigation into beef prices to include eight large retailers, among them Walmart and Costco.
The move follows an investigation opened in May into the four largest meatpackers in the US – JBS, Cargill, Tyson Foods and National Beef.
