Nutrition labels on meat

The meat you buy at the store may look a little different now. As of March 1, there are new USDA labeling requirements for ground meat and ground poultry, as well as other popular cuts of meat.

Previously, most meat (unless they had added ingredients) did not have a nutrition label on its packaging. 

Here is a summary of the new requirements:

• Ground meat and ground poultry must have a nutrition label
• If the ground meat or ground poultry has a percentage of lean meat, it must also show the percentage of fat. For instance, 90% lean must also say 10% fat.
• Small businesses are exempt from the rule, as long as they provide lean vs. fat information and make no additional claims on the label.
• Nutrition information for about 40 popular cuts of meat will either appear on the label or on a nearby poster or sign. 
• The nutrition information for non-ground cuts of meat will be based on the average nutritional analysis for that cut.
• Number of calories, total grams of fat, and total grams of saturated fat will be the components of the nutrition label.
• Trans fat does not have to be listed, it is voluntary. 

It is not anticipated that these new labeling requirements will have an added expense to consumers.

The new nutrition labels will help shoppers make healthier decisions about which products to purchase. It will now be easy to compare different cuts of meat and their prices to purchase the healthiest and most economic meat purchases.

Read the USDA press release for more information.