It’s not hard to find organic eggs and meat at pretty much any grocery store. But what are you getting when you buy them? If you’re like most people, you probably assume that “USDA Organic” label on the package means that the animals the product came from were raised humanely: They lived happy, torture-free lives during which they roamed freely on sprawling pastures.
You certainly wouldn’t be alone in thinking that. According to a 2014 survey conducted by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), nearly 70% of consumers believe that certified organic farms give all animals access to “outdoor pasture and fresh air throughout the day,” and that they have “significantly more space to move than on non-organic farms."
But the reality is that those things aren’t necessarily true. It’s not that farms touting organic labels don’t have any requirements to follow. When it comes to living conditions in particular, the current United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulations do require organic livestock and poultry to have “access” to the outdoors year-round. But, while we may picture those sprawling pastures when we read that, the regulation is vague enough that farms can currently get away with putting animals in cramped, overcrowded enclosures and simply giving them access to concrete, enclosed “porches” — with nary a plant or blade of grass in sight — and calling them “cage free.”
Some companies have found themselves in hot water for this issue: In early January, a consumer filed a lawsuit against Walmart for deceiving customers with its claim that its “Organic Marketside” storebrand eggs were produced by hens with “outdoor access,” according to Reuters.
That lawsuit is new and hasn’t played out yet, but it brings to light what many believe is the problem with the USDA’s “organic” standards: They don’t properly define “outdoor access” and the current language makes it easy for livestock and poultry producers to get away with inhumane conditions, some akin to factory farms.
“Right now, chickens can be raised almost entirely indoors, without access to soil or grass, and without enough space to move freely or engage in natural behaviors like dust bathing, yet the product can still be labelled ‘organic,’” Suzanne McMillan, Content Director for the ASPCA’s Farm Animal Welfare Campaign, tells Teen Vogue. “The enclosed ‘porches’ used by a few large and powerful companies that are exploiting loopholes in the current standard confine hens to screened-in rooms with roofs and solid flooring. This is certainly no reasonable person’s definition of ‘outdoor access.’”
Animal rights organizations like the ASPCA, along with the organic agriculture industry, have long pushed for more extensive and specific animal welfare standards in the USDA’s Organic program, and celebrated what they thought to be a victory at the tail end of President Barack Obama’s tenure: In January 2017, the USDA published the Organic Livestock and Poultry Practices (OLPP) rule, which was initially proposed a year prior. The rule, which was initially set to take effect in March 2017, established new standards that animal activists believe promote animal welfare and humane treatment. In terms of living conditions, as Modern Farmer pointed out, the OLPP not only requires all animals have enough room to sit, walk, stretch, and stand up without touching other animals or their enclosure walls, but also that the outdoor space they have access to includes actual elements of the outdoors, like soil (which must make up 50% of the space). And the rule explicitly states that “porches (screened, roofed areas attached to the poultry house) will not count as outdoor space.”
“These new Organic standards are game changers,” McMillan says. “They would require adequate indoor and outdoor space for chickens; restrict painful physical alterations; add transport and slaughter protections; and set other crucial standards that would bring Organic standards closer to the level animals deserve and consumers expect.”
But this progress came to a halt after Donald Trump took office. The Trump Administration’s USDA (led by Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue) delayed the OLPP rule three times in 2017 before officially announcing its plans to withdraw the regulations, saying in a statement that it “exceeded USDA’s statutory authority." When reached by Teen Vogue for comment, a USDA representative reiterated that point and noted that, "If the withdrawal is finalized, the existing organic livestock and poultry regulations now published at 7 CFR part 205 would remain effective."
Meanwhile, there has been widespread interest in implementing the new standards. Not only have organizations like the National Farmers Union and the Organic Trade Association (OTA), as well as organic food brands like Organic Valley, Stonyfield Farms, and Whole Foods Market come out in support of the OLPP, but consumers have too. In a public comment period last summer, 99% of the 47,000 commenters were in favor of implementing the rule without any further delay.
“This groundless step by the USDA is being taken against a backdrop of nearly universal support among the organic businesses, and consumers for the fully vetted rules that the USDA has now rejected,” the OTA said in a statement. “It is against this overwhelming public input that USDA ignores growing consumer demands for food transparency.”
Opposition to the rule has largely come from farming groups like the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association which, Food Dive noted, would have to spend millions of dollars to bring their facilities up to code under the new standards. In a statement applauding the USDA’s recent decision, the NPPC cited concerns with the “complexity” of the new standards and that “animal production practices have nothing to do with the basic concept of ‘organic.’”
Without the OLPP, “animals will continue to suffer needlessly, and the Organic label will continue to be exploited by a few large industrial egg producers,” McMillan says. “The USDA’s attempted withdrawal of the OLPP is effectively enabling these ‘faux-ganic’ producers to continue cultivating their unfair advantage over higher welfare organic farmers and to dupe consumers through misleading food labeling.”
Before the rule is officially withdrawn, though, the USDA has opened it up to another public comment period, which ends on 11:59 p.m. EST on January 18; and groups like the ASPCA and the OTA — the latter of which is also fighting for “the integrity of the USDA Organic seal” with a lawsuit against the USDA — are encouraging anyone concerned with animal welfare and transparency in the food they’re buying to make their voices heard.
“Factory farms are polluting our water, air, and communities while subjecting animals to unconscionable suffering,” McMillan says. “The decisions made by our government now — including the USDA’s choice to cater to agribusiness interests rather than listening to consumers and farmers — determine whether we can create a healthier, more humane and environmentally friendly farming system in the future, which is why it is so important...to speak up now.”
You don't have to stop speaking up after the public comment period closes, either. McMillan encourages anyone who wants to promote expanded animal welfare standards on organic farms to take to social media. Call on the USDA to implement the OLPP rule, tagging the agency on sites like Twitter and Facebook. "You can also write to your elected officials in Congress and let them know the USDA's actions are betraying animals, consumers, and responsible farmers," McMillan says.
And it’s important, she adds, even if you’re not at the stage in your life where you’re regularly shopping for your own groceries. “Whether at home, at school, or in our community — we all eat every day,” she says. “Even if we are not directly purchasing the food, each of us has enormous power to encourage those in charge of the buying decisions — parents, school systems, etc. — to make choices that are healthier, better for the environment, and kinder to animals.”
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