You're finally going to know how many calories are in that porterhouse steak you're about to throw on the grill. As of March 1, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will require that all meat packages bear the "Nutrition Facts" panel so common on packaged foods.

The agency announced their new rule last year to give meat processors enough time to comply, and as such, the label has already started appearing on some packages. But now it'll start showing up on every package of ground beef or turkey, and 40 of the most popular cuts of meat and poultry, such as chicken breast or steak, will have calorie and fat-gram information either on the package labels or on display at the store. As with all other Nutrition Facts labels, you'll also know how much sodium is in a meat product, making it a lot easier to avoid enhanced poultry, which is injected with a phosphate or sodium solution that can not only increase salt content but may put you at risk for chronic kidney disease.

The USDA decided to require the labels on meat as part of its revamped MyPlate nutrition guidelines that emphasize lean protein. Labels like "85% Lean," the agency decided, were too vague and masked the fact that the remaining 15 percent of a product is fat. Now, any "85% Lean" label must be accompanied by a "15% Fat" label.

While the Nutrition Facts panel will certainly be helpful in educating you about calorie, fat, and sodium content, it won't do anything to educate you about the antibiotics, hormones, or genetically modified grains fed to most animals raised for meat. And as more consumers demand organic meat, meat packages are getting more and more cluttered with labels that try to make a product sound better than it really is.


In addition to the misleading "natural" label that means simply that a meat product is minimally processed (not from animals raised without hormones or antibiotics), meat processors are using official-looking labels like "USDA Process Verified" or adding the term "Certified" to somehow imply that the meat isn't the standard factory-farmed meat you're actually ***ing. "Certified" means that a meat product has met certain quality standards set by the USDA, while "Process Verified" means that the meat producer can advertise things like age, feeding process, source of meat, and other aspects of their farming practices. But it doesn't help you find non-factory-farmed meat that was actually raised on grass or organic feed.

Your best bet, while perusing those Nutrition Facts labels, is to make sure it's accompanied by the USDA Organic seal, or just *** your meat at a farmer's market from a local farmer who can tell you in person how he or she raises her animals.