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What is A Natural ChickenH
What does the term "natural" mean when used on labeling
for meat and poultry products in the United States? How can so many producers claim to be
natural?
USDA policy memo 005, dated November 22, 1982, states that any product may be labeled
natural if it does not contain any artificial flavoring, coloring ingredient, chemical
preservative or any other synthetic ingredient, and the product is minimally processed.
Minimal processing may include those traditional processes (smoking, roasting, freezing,
drying and fermenting used to make food edible or preserve it or make it safe for human
consumption. (The full text of USDA memo is available upon request.)
As one can readily see, the USDA natural claim represents little more than a minimal
standard. It saves more about what may or may not be in a meat product than what should be
in it. Specifically, it does not address growing methods and in particular, the use of
antibiotics or growth enhancers for livestock and poultry . It is legally possible to
offer naturally grown livestock or chickens that have been fed antibiotics. In fact any
conventionally grown chicken can qualify for this natural claim as stated in the USDA
memo.
Allen Shainsky and Petaluma Poultry Processors strongly believe that these higher natural
standards should be incorporated in a new USDA policy memo in order for chickens to be
labeled natural. They are as follows: @
₯ grown from one day of age without
the use of any antibiotics, also excluding the use of sub-therapeutic levels of
antibiotics for enhancing growth that are commonly used in conventional chickens
₯ fed a nutritionally balanced diet of corn and soybean meal, without the use of animal
fat, and animal by-products
₯ grown in uncrowded spacious houses with natural daylight, and the chickens should be
able to roam freely throughout the growing house
₯ grown and handled in a humane manner at all times during their life
₯ of course if natural chickens get sick, they should be treated with antibiotics and
removed from the natural chicken program and sold as conventional chickens
One misconception about natural that should be eliminated regards the use of hormones and
cages for meat bird chickens. Hormones have not been fed to meat bird chickens for the
past 35 years. Meat bird chickens are never grown in cages.
Because the USDA standard represents such a low common denominator, it is left to the
retailer as the purchasing agent for the consumer, to investigate and determine the
growing standards of individual livestock and poultry producers claiming to be natural.
Rocky Jr. or Rocky The Range Chickens are a true
natural chicken and have an approved USDA Label claim to prove it.
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For more information
contact Allen Shainsky or Wayne Dufond at:
PETALUMA POULTRY PROCESSORS
TEL 707-763-1904 FAX 707-763-3924
P.O. Box 7368 Petaluma CA 94955-7368
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