Finding a lack of standing, a D.C. federal court has dismissed Food & Water Watch’s lawsuit alleging that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) New Poultry Inspection System (NPIS) is inconsistent with the Poultry Products Inspection Act (PPIA), which requires USDA to ensure that poultry products are wholesome, unadulterated and properly marked, labeled and packaged. Food & Water Watch v. Vilsack, No. 14-1547 (D.D.C., order entered February 9, 2015). The NPIS reduces the number of USDA inspectors at the slaughter line of poultry production facilities, “freeing up [USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service] resources to conduct offline inspection activities that are more important for food safety, such as verifying compliance with sanitation and [other] requirements, or conducting Food Safety Assessments.” Food & Water Watch challenged the NPIS as consumers of poultry, arguing that the USDA inspection label indicated to them that a federal employee had inspected the poultry and that…
Category Archives Department of Agriculture
Challengers to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s country-of-origin labeling (COOL) rules requiring meat products to indicate where the animals were born, raised and slaughtered reportedly will not continue to pursue their claims, according to a stipulation of dismissal. Am. Meat Inst. v. USDA, No. 13-1033 (D.C., stipulation filed February 9, 2015). The meat and poultry groups lost their First Amendment challenge to the mandatory labeling rules in the D.C. Circuit Court and were later denied a rehearing. The stipulation comes after a World Trade Organization (WTO) ruling against the United States in favor of Canada and Mexico, which argue that the rules discriminated against their livestock producers. “While we remain disappointed with the court’s ruling on country of origin labeling (COOL), we agree with the World Trade Organization’s assessment that the U.S. rule is out of compliance with its trade obligations to Canada and Mexico,” North American Meat Institute CEO…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has proposed new standards that aim to reduce Salmonella and Campylobacter in “the poultry items that Americans most often purchase,” including ground chicken and turkey products as well as raw chicken breasts, legs and wings, according to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. The proposed standards would require routine sampling throughout the year rather than infrequent sampling on consecutive days, and the allowed amounts of Salmonella in chicken parts, ground chicken and ground turkey would be lowered substantially. A USDA press release notes that the Food Safety and Inspection Service implemented standards for whole chickens in 1996, but “has since learned that Salmonella levels increase as chicken is further processed into parts.” See USDA News Release, January 21, 2015. Issue 552
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agriculture Marketing Service has extended until February 17, 2015, the comment period for a proposed rule that would expand assessment exemptions for commodity promotion activities “to cover all ‘organic’ and ‘100 percent organic’ products certified under the National Organic Program regardless of whether the person requesting the exemption also produces, handles, or imports conventional or nonorganic products.” Under the current rule, the exemption applies only to those who exclusively produce and market products certified as 100 percent organic. Additional details about the original notice appear in Issue 549 of this Update. See Federal Register, January 15, 2015. Issue 551
According to a January 1, 2015, New York Times article by Andrew Pollack, the advent of new technologies has created a loophole in federal regulations for companies looking to market genetically-engineered (GE) crops. Noting that new techniques do not involve the transfer of genetic material from other species, use bacterium to insert foreign materials or rely on viruses to manipulate plant DNA, Pollack writes that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) lacks the authority to regulate these GE crops under its current mandate to protect against plant pests, including insects or pathogens. Although consumer watchdogs have warned that all GE crops could have unforeseen ecological consequences, proponents have argued that easing regulatory burdens will lower barriers to market entry and allow smaller companies to participate in product development. “Regulators around the world are now grappling with whether these techniques are even considered genetic engineering and how, if at all, they…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Organic Program (NOP) has published draft guidance clarifying the agency’s interpretation of regulations that require organic operations to “maintain or improve the natural resources of the operation, including soil and water quality.” Intended for accredited certifying agents and certified operations, the guidance provides examples of production practices that support the principles of natural resource and biodiversity conservation. It also describes (i) “the certified organic operator’s responsibility to select, carry out, and record production practices that ‘maintain or improve the natural resources of the operation’”; (ii) “the accredited certifying agent’s responsibility to verify operator compliance with this requirement”; and (ii) “how domestic organic operations that participate in a USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) program and the NOP can reduce their paperwork burdens.” The agency will accept comments on the draft guidance until February 27, 2015. See Federal Register, December 29, 2014. Issue 550
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) will host a January 13-14, 2015, public meeting of the National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection (NACMPI) at the Patriot Plaza III building in Washington, D.C. Topics of discussion at the meeting will include (i) FSIS’s identification and management of chemical hazards within the National Residue Program (i.e., contaminants in meat, poultry and egg products); and (ii) the Economic Research Service’s Cost Calculation Model, which provides federal agencies with peer-reviewed estimates of the costs of foodborne illness that can be used to evaluate the effects of federal regulation and inform policy considerations. See Federal Register, December 24, 2014. Issue 550
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has proposed a rule that would allow anyone producing, handling, marketing, or importing certified organic products to be exempt from paying the assessments associated with commodity promotion activities like advertising. The exemption would cover all “organic” and “100 percent organic” products certified under the National Organic Program. The current rule allows the exemption to apply only to those who exclusively produce and market products certified as 100 percent organic, but the proposed rule would broaden application to include all organic products regardless of whether the person or company imports or handles nonorganic products as well. Comments on the proposed rule must be received by January 15, 2015. See Federal Register, December 16, 2014. Issue 549
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has launched a risk assessment in response to the European Commission’s urgent request for scientific advice on the H5N8 avian influenza A virus detected in Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Focusing on the role of wild birds as vectors, EFSA plans to release a December 2014 report that will provide risk managers “with independent scientific advice and assistance on animal health and welfare related to avian influenza and any possible food safety issues.” See EFSA News Release, November 26, 2014. In a related development, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has amended an interim rule restricting the importation of live birds and poultry, hatching eggs and poultry products “from regions where any subtype of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) is considered to exist.” Effective December 1, 2014, the final rule now permits the importation of HPAI-resistant species, including pigeons…
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Department of Agriculture (USDA) have scheduled a meeting of the 14 member committee charged with developing the federal government’s “2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans” for December 15, 2014, from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. EST. The meeting is accessible to the public by webcast only and registration is required to view the proceedings. Aimed at promoting consumption of foods and beverages that assist in maintaining a healthy weight and preventing disease, the guidelines were first issued in 1980, are revised every five years, and provide the basis for federal food and nutrition policy and education efforts. The next iteration of the guidelines will be published during fall 2015. Information about the December 15 meeting agenda, webcast registration and the committee’s requests for written comments may be found here. See Federal Register, November 26, 2014. Issue 547
