The folks down at the USDA deserve a tip of the Stetson for clarifying what had to be the most misleading rule in the agency’s history.

As originally written, the rule allowed a meat packer to buy beef from Brazil, Australia, Mexico — who knows where — and repackage it, cut it up or otherwise process it and slap a label on it announcing the meat had been magically transformed into a “Product of the USA.”

Under this rule, untold numbers of consumers were misled into believing they were supporting American ranchers when they bought steaks or a roast to celebrate a special occasion. In fact, they were only celebrating how the USDA could allow a company to obfuscate, obscure and otherwise obliterate the English language.

The meaning of “Product of the USA” is as clear as the sky at high noon. It means the animal and the meat that came from it were processed in the U.S. Anything else, and it should never be labeled as such.

The USDA’s original “Product of the USA” label rule had holes big enough to drive a cattle truck through on its way across the border.

True, the label was voluntary. That’s because our trade partners in Canada and Mexico were upset when the U.S. mandated that processors label where beef and other meats were from. They said cattle that were moved back and forth between the countries to graze would lose value.

Processors also claimed it would be too hard to track where cattle and other animals were raised.

Maybe they had a point. We’ve written many stories on one processor that paid $233 million for cattle that didn’t even exist. If their bookkeeping was that bad, the company’s bean counters may never be able to figure out where it got a real cow.

The voluntary label was supposed to be a compromise. It allowed companies to tell consumers where their beef was raised. A company always had the option of not using the label.

What the USDA’s label really did was allow companies to be creative.

Either way, consumers were left in the dark.

We’re sure USDA had its reasons for approving a label so blurry it really didn’t mean anything beyond the fact that consumers — and ranchers — were wrong to put their faith in the agency.

We’ve always supported truth in advertising. When a mom or a dad lays down hard-earned money at the grocery store or butcher shop, that label better be accurate and mean something.

We assume the new label will finally mean what it says, “Product of the USA.”

USDA finally got the message. Hopefully, meat packers did, too.