WASHINGTON – The US Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), along with USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS), confirmed the start of a new exploratory sampling program to assess whether antibiotics residues are detectable in cattle intended to go to market with “raised without antibiotics (RWA)” claims.

The agency first announced the initiative in June to strengthen the substantiation of various animal-raising claims.

Establishments that would be eligible for the program include those that slaughter cattle and those offering products that have RWA claims like “No Antibiotics,” “No Antibiotics Ever,” “Raised Without Antibiotics,” “Antibiotic Free,” “No Antibiotics Administered,” or related claims, according to the FSIS.

Liver and kidney samples would be collected from eligible cattle and ARS would analyze the sample using a method that targets more than 180 veterinary drugs from various major classes of antibiotics.

Following antibiotic residue detection, FSIS would issue a letter concerning the sample results and advise the establishment to conduct a root cause analysis while preventing misbranded products from being sold. If no letter is received, FSIS said the test results from the sampling were negative.

“The results of this sampling will help inform whether FSIS should require that laboratory testing results be submitted for the ‘raised without antibiotics’ claim or whether the agency should start a new verification sampling program,” the agency stated.

FSIS first updated its guidelines on “grass-fed” and “free-range” claims in 2019.