Pasturebird Successfully Petitions USDA to Update Definition of “Pasture-Raised” Poultry for New Labeling Guidelines

Pasturebird, the world’s largest pasture-raised chicken brand, is setting a new standard for transparency and animal welfare after successfully petitioning to update the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) definition of “pasture-raised” meat and poultry. After years of advocating for a clear and common-sense definition, Pasturebird and Perdue Farms helped shoppers distinguish “free range” from “pasture-raised” chicken. The new animal raising labeling guidelines require that “pasture-raised” animals must be on pasture the majority of their life, where “pasture” is defined as land having rooted vegetative cover, grasses or plants—different from “free-range,” which only requires that the animals have access to the outdoors. The updated USDA guidelines are a significant win for consumers seeking pasture-raised products they can trust as well as poultry farmers who put in the extra time, care and resources to truly raise their birds on grass.

“For more than seven years we’ve been advocating for distinguishable standards between ‘pasture-raised’ and ‘free-range’,” said Paul Greive, Pasturebird Founder and Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “The evolution of these important standards ensures that products with these raising practices will be accurately labeled—especially as consumer interest in pasture-raised chicken is on the rise. This is a victory for animal welfare, pastured poultry farmers and consumers.”

In 2020, Perdue Farms, a fourth-generation, family owned U.S. food and agricultural company, acquired Pasturebird with the goal of scaling regenerative agriculture and making pasture-raised chicken more accessible and affordable for consumers. Perdue has built a name for itself as a leader in animal welfare with the country’s largest organic and free-range chicken programs and the first large poultry company to end the use of antibiotics. Since the acquisition, Pasturebird has leveraged the longstanding relationships of its parent company to push the poultry industry toward more transparent labeling practices. On March 16, 2023, Perdue filed a petition with the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) to define separate “free-range” and “pasture-raised” claims for meat and poultry products and update its guidance related to living/raising condition claims to align with consumer understanding and expectations. On Aug. 28, 2024, the USDA announced acceptance of Perdue’s petition. With the completion of the 60-day comment period on Nov. 12, 2024, the new USDA guideline revisions take immediate effect but there is currently a lag in the marketplace.

“The formal definition for ‘pasture raised’ is going to be a game changer,” said Joe Koopsen, first generation founder/owner at Joe’s Farm in Michigan raising pasture-raised poultry. “Even though this change will for sure help pastured poultry producers, the real winner is the consumer who has been lied to for too long by companies saying one thing and doing another,” explained Koopsen.

During the public comment period, Perdue’s petition received resounding support. Of the nearly 6,500 comments received online, 80 percent were from consumers and 96 percent were in support of a standard definition of “pasture-raised.” Many commenters expressed the belief that this standard would lead to a more accurate and transparent definition of “pasture-raised,” addressing concerns over current misleading labeling. A common concern expressed is that, under the previous guidelines that considered “pasture-raised” and “free-range” synonymous, chickens may only have “nominal” access to pasture rather than the substantial pasture time consumers expect. With the new standard definition in place, the guidelines take significant steps to protect consumers from false or misleading labels.

In addition to strong support from consumers, farmers and sustainability advocates, third-party auditing agencies, such as Certified Humane and Global Animal Partnership have updated their definition of “pasture-raised” poultry to reflect the new FSIS guidelines. Third-party certification of animal-raising claims helps ensure that such claims are truthful and not misleading by having an independent organization verify that their standards are being met on the farm.

“Certified Humane has incorporated the new FSIS guidelines into our Broiler Standards. This will give producers the opportunity to follow these new regulations in tandem with the Certified Humane standard and thus have the USDA’s support for the use of our logo with the addition of a Pasture Raised claim on pack,” said Mimi Stein, Executive Director, Certified Humane. “We are aligned with this important update and look forward to supporting consumers through the confidence they have in products with our logo.”

“When shopping for chicken, consumers are asked to take a leap of faith deciphering labels, but the new USDA common-sense definition of ‘pasture-raised’ should make it a little bit easier,” said Greive.