USDA "Product of USA" · a data supply chain for beef
Product of USA branding opened the door to a proper digital data supply chain — birth, grazing, feedlot, processing, shelf — where every participant adds to the animal's record and together they build one end-to-end proof. The evidence USDA requires, owned by you, and origin-bearing data AI can trust.
Start a conversation — book a short call →We're selecting a few pilot partners to start. A 20-minute call to see if you're a fit — no prep, no commitment.
The innovation — a new idea
Product of USA branding created an opportunity: build a proper digital supply chain for the data your beef requires — from birth to grazing to feedlot to processing to the shelf. Every participant in the chain adds their data to the animal's record, and together they construct one end-to-end digital proof. Rootz built the tools that make it possible.
This is genuinely new. There has never been a data supply chain for food — even today's AI has no concept for it. It is a foundational industry innovation, and it is how origin gets proven from here forward.
Why now
The rule (9 CFR 412.3) requires you to substantiate born, raised, slaughtered, and processed in the U.S. — on demand, in about 24 hours. Wagyu, grass-fed, NHTC, export-eligible: each is a claim you must be able to back. And USDA built no system to produce that proof.
Today it's affidavits, audits, and a database only you can see. When a buyer, an importer's system, an FSIS reviewer — or increasingly a shopping AI — asks "prove it" at the moment of sale, you can't hand them anything they can verify without trusting you.
The proof is required. The narrative belongs to whoever can actually produce it.
What you get
Own your data
A digital identity that's yours — your DBA, your key — and records that stay in your custody. Not a central database. Not issued to you; created by you.
Proof on demand
Produce a signed, verifiable Product-of-USA pack — and proof for every premium claim — the moment a buyer, auditor, or AI asks. No database access required.
Record the work
Capture the quality work you already do — birth, vaccinations, grazing, grading — through your herd system or our collection tools, so it becomes provable proof you own.
You already own the first piece
Most packers already operate under several registered DBA names in the federal record. Every one is a trade name your business created and registered. A "Doing Business As" is a digital identity you already own; we make it cryptographic, so each brand can sign its own origin.
You'll also create a company-root identity — the authority above your brands that either signs records itself or issues a unique signing key to each brand, so every label signs under your authorization. One company identity; a signing key per brand; every one of them yours.
It's backed by a hundred years of DBA law and the federal E-SIGN Act — a signed record is a recognized transaction. Nothing new to invent. No central registry to wait for.
Learn more — what a digital DBA is, and how you create one →The chain in action — a life, recorded
You choose which major events to record. Each is a signed note in that animal's data wallet, added by whoever is closest to it — and together they form the end-to-end proof. Sovereign to each contributor; provable to any buyer at the moment of sale.
Calf born on a U.S. premises — date, dam/sire, location. The born-in-USA anchor of the whole record.
The animal's identifier is bound to your identity. Its data wallet opens here and follows the tag for life.
Each treatment a dated, signed note — the substantiation behind program claims like No-Antibiotics-Ever.
Geo-fence and GPS-collar data record where the animal actually was — measured proof of "raised in the USA."
Placement, ration, and movements — signed at the source that keeps it.
Harvest and carcass grading. The identity transforms here — one animal becomes primals and cuts, each still tracing to birth.
Every leg proven with an eBOL, so custody and origin travel together.
The cut a shopper — or their shopping agent — scans, and verifies all the way back to the calf's birth certificate.
Product of USA — produced in seconds. Born + raised + slaughtered + processed in the U.S. isn't a form; it's assembled automatically from the signed events above into a one-click substantiation pack for any lot — exactly what the rule's 24-hour window asks for.
Where Rootz fits
Rootz builds the identity, the signing, and the AI-readable proof — the infrastructure that lets you and everyone in your supply chain add to the record and produce the end-to-end proof. We don't replace your systems or hold your data; we make what you already do provable and yours. The tools underneath the data supply chain — not the owner of it.
Our ask is simple: a short call to understand your supply chain and show you where we could help.
How we'd work together
Activate the owned identity we build from your record — your company root plus a key per brand, keys in your hands, with a live buyer-facing verify link.
One product line signed + a one-click Product-of-USA substantiation pack + a buyer-verify link. ~6 weeks, about a half-day from two of your people, success measured as a business outcome you pick.
Signing across every line, a buyer verification API, and sub-identities for your plants, brands, and carriers — so any buyer's agent verifies your beef without touching your systems.
If you claim it — who controls it?
The identity is yours from the moment it's created — you hold the keys. During onboarding we can hold an optional assistance key so no one's ever locked out, and you remove it with one button when you're ready. The identity never changes: same name, same record, same history. You're never dependent on us, and your proof works even without us.
We're taking on a few pilot partners. 20 minutes to see if you're a fit — no prep, no commitment.
Measured Origin · Rootz Corp — the digital data supply chain for agriculture. Independent initiative; not affiliated with or endorsed by USDA. Records in the registry are public federal data, signed.
registry signer 04bf27c9bd1037d70316633af9628a81ecda65db1c8b… · ECDSA-P256-SHA256 · usda.rootz.global