USDA naturally raised meat standard

My husband and I purchase our meat (beef, pork, poultry, rabbit) and dairy products from a farm just down the road. We know these animals are naturally raised, because we know the farmers and we see the animals out on pasture. But those who live in cities and/or purchase their meats and dairy products in stores have no way to personally verify that they are getting naturally raised food. They can only go by what they read on the labels, and they have a right to expect that a USDA label saying "naturally raised" means that the animal was, indeed raised in a somewhat natural setting, with access to pasture, fresh air, and freedom of motion. If the USDA wishes to grant a label certifying that certain animal products are produced without administration of antibiotics and artificial hormones, that would be fine. That would be a good place to start. But to qualify as "naturally raised" such animals should need not only to be free of antibiotics and artificial hormones, but also to have been raised free of crates, cages, and feedlots. To label meat from animals kept in crowded, un-natural, and inhumane feedlot conditions as "naturally raised" is misleading in the extreme--disingenuous at best, fraudulent at worst.

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