As the USDA currently seeks for ways to supply nutrition information on meat products, some experts believe that the current meat labeling system still has areas for improvement.

According to Assistant Professor Chris Raines, a specialist in meat science and technology, although most groups in the meat industry agree with how the current meat labels work, they also want to see a more detailed and accurate nutrition information on the meat product labels. This is because a lot of consumers are not fully aware of how nutritious and healthy most meats are. For instance, Raines cited that the group Meatmatters conducted a survey that showed consumers overestimating the fat content in red meat by 20%. For some, or most consumers, this can lead to misconceptions as not all meats that have fat content are unhealthy.

The initiative to provide nutrition information on the labels of meat products started in 1993. The initiative was not a success because only a small number of meat companies complied with it. In 2010, officials made it mandatory to provide nutrition information on the labels of meat products. The mandate will be implemented nationwide by January of 2012. The mandate also requires that the nutrition information printed should be accurate in that it will include amounts of fat, minerals, protein and calories. One area of improvement for this regulation however, is that the variation in fat content of the meat products is not addressed. Fat content variation should also be included as not all types of meat are the same. As an example, Raines said that a USDA prime steak will have a higher amount of intramuscular fat than that of a USDA select steak.