National Farmers Union officials told the Department of Agriculture U.S. meat labeling standards are disadvantaging American beef producers by letting products born, raised and slaughtered outside of the U.S. carry the Product of the USA label. NFU President Roger Johnson says the problem came about when mandatory country of origin labeling was repealed. He says the standards need to be changed.

He says NFU is backing a petition filed by the Organization for Competitive Markets and the American Grassfed Association that calls for regulations that require beef be of domestic origin to be eligible for the Product of the USA label.

Johnson says meat packers are taking advantage of the current meat labeling system and are co-mingling domestic meat with foreign meat. This causes the price to drop for the product which is hurting cattle producers and consumers.

Johnson says the voluntary Product of the USA labels do not provide consumers with accurate country of origin labeling.