USDA Announces Enhancement of Commodity Acceptance Procedures

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) will begin modernizing acceptance procedures for poultry and egg products purchased for federal food and nutrition assistance programs. Instead of mandating a "USDA Grade" which requires continuous oversight by an AMS employee, the agency will describe the desired quality attributes and then audit suppliers for their ability to produce conforming products. Companies producing fresh, frozen, and further processed beef and pork products already successfully use this acceptance model.

In the future, companies wishing to sell certain poultry and egg products commodities to USDA will be required to develop technical proposals describing the processes they use to meet identified requirements. AMS will then conduct periodic audits. Products requiring an official grade based on final product quality attributes offered to recipient agencies (e.g., schools, food banks, households) such as consumer-pack chicken and turkey, chicken parts, turkey roasts, and shell eggs will remain unchanged at this time.

This announcement marks the beginning of an ongoing process with stakeholder engagement. The first phase will focus on the revision of federal purchase specifications for poultry products that currently have auditing oversight as a vendor option (e.g., canned/pouched meat and poultry items, chicken strips, and egg products). As specifications are updated, they will be shared publicly for stakeholder input prior to any final changes. AMS will also ensure that vendors understand what is expected in a technical proposal and have full awareness of the audit process. The next phase, which is expected to commence in the Summer of 2026, will focus on the remaining poultry products that previously had grading requirements such as diced chicken, cooked turkey breast, and turkey ham.

In transitioning more commodities for federal food and nutrition assistance programs under an audit-based oversight model, AMS is removing unnecessary burdens for vendors while still ensuring these foods meet recipients' expectations. It is important to note that all meat and poultry products are inspected for safety and wholesomeness by USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service.

Throughout this process, AMS will work with stakeholders to ensure these changes do not inadvertently create new burden, especially for those companies who participate in further processing second contracts or use USDA grading service for commercial purposes.

AMS will host an industry-wide webinar on March 10, 2026 at 2 p.m. EST, detailing the audit-based oversight program requirements. Interested stakeholders can join the webinar using this link. Any program updates and resources, including webinars, will also be announced through AMS GovDelivery notifications. You may subscribe to these notifications on the AMS website.

For more information, contact Mike Lopez at [email protected] or at (501) 766-4782.