"While ground beef is a single ingredient product (beef) and lean, finely textured beef therefore is not required to be listed separately on any label, we believe USDA's decision to allow companies to voluntarily include information on their label regarding LFTB content will be an important first step in restoring consumer confidence in their ground beef," BPI said in a statement Tuesday.

"Based upon the numerous taste panel studies conducted using BPI's lean beef and strong consumer preference for ground beef that contains our LFTB, we feel this development will allow more customers to provide options to consumers and pave the way for BPI's lean beef to reestablish its place in the market," it said.