The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service and the U.S Environmental Protection Agency have announced an April 10, 2014, public meeting in Arlington, Virginia, to provide information and receive public comments on agenda items and draft U.S. positions for discussion during the 46th Session of the Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues of the Codex Alimentarius Commission in Hong Kong, China, on May 5-17, 2014. Agenda items include (i) revision to the Codex classification of food and feed for step 6-selected vegetable commodity groups (roots and tubers); (ii) draft discussion paper on guidance for setting maximum residue limits (MRLs) for pesticides for minor uses and specialty crops; (iii) revision of the committee’s risk analysis principles on pesticide residues; (iv) priority list for establishing MRLs for pesticides; and (v) guidance for assessing pesticide residue analysis methods. See Federal Register, March 26, 2014. Issue 518
Category Archives Department of Agriculture
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) has announced an April 29-May 2, 2014, public meeting in San Antonio, Texas, to discuss the work of its six subcommittees and receive input on proposed changes to the National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances (National List), which governs what may be used in organic handling and production. Among other things, the meeting will address several petitions proposing the addition, extension or deletion of substances scheduled for reassessment under the National List’s sunset review rules. In particular, petitioners have requested (i) a National List extension for streptomycin—slated to expire October 14, 2014—to allow “adequate time for the transition from strep over to non-antibiotic, biological alternatives for fire blight control”; (ii) revisions to provisions governing the use of synthetic methionine in poultry feed; (iii) the addition of several synthetic substances used in aquaculture production; and (iv) the removal of synthetic…
A federal court in Washington, D.C., has reportedly refused to reconsider its denial of hundreds of claims by African-American farmers who alleged that they were owed a share of the $1.25-billion settlement fund established to compensate a class of farmers allegedly discriminated against by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) loan application process. In re Black Farmers Discrimination Litig., No. 08-0511 (D.D.C., order entered March 5, 2014). Information about the lawsuit and a dispute over attorney’s fees appears in Issue 490 of this Update. According to a news source, the court determined that it lacked authority to alter the terms of the settlement agreement, which provided that claims determinations would be considered final and not subject to court review. “This may be cold comfort to claimants who feel that their claims were denied in error; but without the Settlement Agreement, the amount of relief attainable by members of the plaintiff…
Due to the recent government shutdown, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have rescheduled the second meeting of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee for January 13-14, 2014. Among those on the agenda are HHS, USDA and Institute of Medicine representatives, committee members and Food Systems Consultant Kate Clancy, who will address “Dietary Guidelines and Sustainability.” The public will have an opportunity to speak, and those who registered to do so before the originally scheduled October 3-4, 2013, meeting “will retain their designation.” Those choosing to participate by Webcast or in person must register by January 6, 2014. Comments are requested either by December 31, 2013, or throughout the committee’s deliberative process. See Federal Register, December 9, 2013.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has terminated proceedings on a proposed marketing agreement that sought to regulate the handling of fresh leafy green vegetables in the United States. Modeled after a 2006 initiative pioneered by California growers in the wake of an E. coli outbreak linked to fresh spinach, the National Leafy Green Marketing Agreement (NLGMA) would have authorized “the development and implementation of handling regulations (audit metrics) to reflect the United States Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Good Agricultural Practices, Good Handling Practices, and Good Manufacturing Practices.” According to the California LGMA, which participated in the NLGMA effort, the proposed program became redundant under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), which requires FDA to regulate produce farmers “to ensure their products are safe.” To this end, the California LGMA recently submitted comments on FSMA’s proposed Produce Safety Rule, asking the FDA to consider certified LGMA members as compliant…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has reopened the comment period on a proposed rule concerning the description designation for needle- or blade-tenderized beef. First published in the June 10, 2013, Federal Register, the proposed rule would require “the descriptive designation ‘mechanically-tenderized’ on the labels of raw or partially-cooked needle- or blade tenderized beef products, including beef products injected with marinade or solution, unless these products are to be fully cooked at an official establishment.” Because the first comment period expired during the recent partial government shutdown, the agency will now accept feedback until December 24, 2013. Additional details about the proposed rule appear in Issue 486 of this Update. See Federal Register, December 3, 2013.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has released its Salmonella Action Plan outlining steps theagency will take to address its “most pressing problem”—Salmonella in meat and poultry products. Key elements of the plan include modernizing an “outdated” poultry slaughter inspection system and shifting FSIS inspectors to more offline, food-safety duties, which the agency said will prevent at least an estimated 5,000 illnesses annually. The plan also calls for FSIS to (i) establish new performance standards; (ii) develop new strategies for “inspection and throughout the full farm-to-table continuum”; (iii) address all potential sources of Salmonella; and (iv) focus the agency’s “education and outreach tools on Salmonella.” Although lauded by many food-safety advocates, critics claim that it “completely ignores” one of the most crucial issues the meat industry faces— antibiotic-resistant Salmonella. “It is shocking for the agency to have stayed on the sidelines of this public health crisis, particularly in the…
“A curious hurdle is threatening to complicate efforts by the United States to reach a major trade agreement with 11 Pacific nations by the end of the year: catfish,” reports New York Times writer Ron Nixon in a November 13, 2013, article describing how the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) new catfish inspection program has angered Vietnam, a member of the TransPacific Partnership and a major exporter of a catfish known as pangasius. Vietnamese trade officials have apparently written to Secretary of State John Kerry, the White House and Congress, criticizing the new inspection program as a trade barrier in disguise. “And it’s not even a good disguise; it’s clearly a thinly veiled attempt designed to keep out fish from countries like Vietnam,” Le Chi Dzung, the chief economic officer of the Vietnamese Embassy in Washington, D.C., told the Times. Intended to replace the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) catfish…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Services (FSIS) has issued a final rule amending the meat and poultry products inspection regulations “to expand the circumstances in which FSIS will generically approve the labels of meat and poultry products.” Effective January 6, 2014, the final rule will also consolidate the regulations governing meat and poultry product label approvals under a new Code of Federal Regulations part. Under the new regulations, FSIS will still require establishments to submit for evaluation certain types of labeling, “e.g., labels for temporary approval, labels for products produced under religious exemption, labels for products for export with labeling deviations, and labels with claims and special statements.” In particular, FSIS will continue to review the following special statements and claims: (i) “[c]laims relating a product’s nutrient content to a health or a disease condition”; (ii) “statements that identify a product as ‘organic’ or containing organic…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has announced a final rule intended to bring its import regulations for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in line with “internationally-accepted scientific literature and standards set by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).” According to a November 1, 2013, press release, the new rule will require APHIS to use OIE criteria and categories to determine BSE risk classification when setting import policy for a particular country. It will also allow APHIS “to conduct its own assessment when deemed necessary, such as when a country is not yet classified by the OIE for BSE risk and requests that APHIS conduct a risk evaluation using criteria equivalent to that used by OIE.” “This action will bring our BSE import regulations in line with international standards, which call for countries to base their trade policies on the actual risk of animals…
