The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has partially granted a Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) petition regarding nitrate/nitrite claims on meat and poultry products produced using substances that inherently contain nitrates or nitrites. CSPI petitioned FSIS last summer to make a number of changes to the way the Agency approaches “no nitrate/nitrite” and “uncured” claims on products made with natural sources of nitrates/nitrites. On 1o December FSIS responded to CSPI, indicating that the Agency was partially granting CSPI’s petition and planned to conduct rulemaking to change the Agency’s policies toward these claims.
Background
On 29 August 2019, CSPI filed a petition requesting FSIS to take certain actions for meat and poultry products processed with non-synthetic sources of nitrates or nitrites.1 The petition requested FSIS to do the following:
- Amend its labeling regulations to:
- Prohibit the statements “No Nitrate or Nitrite Added” and “Uncured” on meat and poultry products that have been processed using any sources of nitrates or nitrites, including non-synthetic sources, such as celery powder (and reserve these types of claims for meats that were not processed using nitrates or nitrites);
- Require that labeling of these products include the disclosure statement “nitrates or nitrites added”;
- Require ingredients used as a source of nitrates or nitrites be declared as such in the product labeling, e.g., “celery powder (source of nitrates or nitrites for curing)”;
- Approve non-synthetic sources of nitrates and nitrites as curing agents; and
- Take additional steps to minimize levels of residual nitrates and nitrites in these products by setting maximum concentrations and requirements for the use of ascorbate or other cure accelerators when nitrates or nitrites are used.
FSIS reports 17 public comments were submitted in response to the CSPI petition.
FSIS’s Response and Planned Actions
On 10 December 2020, FSIS responded to the petition2 indicating that the Agency partially granted the request and plans to take the following steps:
- Issue a proposed rule to prohibit the statements “No Nitrate or Nitrite Added” and “Uncured” on products that have been processed using any source of nitrates or nitrites;
- Approve “non-synthetic” sources of nitrates or nitrites as curing agents; and
- Amend FSIS regulations to create new definitions of “Cured” and “Uncured,” with details to be provided in a forthcoming rulemaking. This rulemaking is listed in the newly released Fall 2020 Unified Regulatory Agenda.3 The Unified Agenda identifies May 2021 as the target date for issuing a proposed rule, although Unified Agenda dates tend to be aspirational.
FSIS’s planned policy changes could have significant consequences for the formulation and labeling of deli meat, sausages, bacon, and similar products, including further processed products containing these as ingredients.
We will continue to monitor this development closely.
References
1 CSPI Petition to Require Accurate and Non-Misleading Labeling on Meat Processed with
Non-Synthetic Nitrates and Nitrites, Petition Number 19-03 (29 Aug. 2019), https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/wcm/connect/ab431015-e161-4b72-9935-f822c86fde81/19-03-CSPI-082919.pdf?MOD=AJPERES.
2 FSIS Response to CSPI Petition (10 Dec. 2020), https://cspinet.org/sites/default/files/19-03_CSPI_Nitrite_Response_121020.pdf.
3 Fall 2020 Unified Agenda Entry for Uncured/Cured Rulemaking (Fall 2020), https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eAgendaViewRule?pubId=202010&RIN=0583-AD88.
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