The National Organic Program (NOP) has announced the availability of four final guidance documents to help accredited certifying agents and certified operations comply with NOP regulations. Titled “Compost and Vermicompost in Organic Crop Production (NOP 5021),” “Wild Crop Harvesting (NOP 5022),’’ ‘‘Commingling and Contamination Prevention in Organic Production and Handling (NOP 5025),’’ and ‘‘The Use of Chlorine Materials in Organic Production and Handling (NOP 5026),’’ the documents are also “intended to inform the public of NOP’s current thinking on these topics.” See Federal Register, May 6, 2011.
Category Archives Department of Agriculture
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has published a final rule establishing a new voluntary cooperative program that will permit state-inspected establishments with fewer than 25 employees “to ship meat and poultry products in interstate commerce.” Under the program, which will be administered by state inspectors, selected establishments must comply with all standards under the Federal Meat Inspection Act and Poultry Products Inspection Act to receive the official USDA mark of inspection necessary for interstate commerce. Effective July 1, 2011, the final rule considers approximately 90 separate comments submitted in response to the September 2009 proposed version. “Allowing these state-inspected establishments to ship their products across state lines has the potential to expand rural development and jobs, increase local tax bases, strengthen rural communities, and ensure that food is safe for consumers,” said FSIS Administrator Al Almanza in an April 19, 2011, press release.…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (UDSA’s) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) has issued a proposed rule that would establish a voluntary National Leafy Green Marketing Agreement (NLGMA) “to regulate the handling of leafy green vegetables, including but limited to lettuce, spinach, and cabbage.” According to AMS, the proposed agreement would “authorize the development and implementation of production and handling regulations (audit metrics)” to reflect USDA’s Good Handling Practices, as well as the Food and Drug Administration’s Good Agricultural Practices and Good Manufacturing Practices. AMS has requested comments and written exceptions to the proposed rule by July 28, 2011. The voluntary NLGMA would cover both domestic and imported leafy green vegetables, with signatories agreeing to only handle products that meet program requirements. It is evidently modeled after a similar marketing agreement pioneered by California growers, who in 2006 faced a widespread E. coli outbreak linked to fresh spinach, and also takes into account…
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued a report recommending how the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) could improve the safety of school meals purchased through its commodities program. The report recommends that USDA instruct the commodity program to (i) “develop a systematic and transparent process to determine whether foods offered by the program require more-stringent specifications related to microbial contamination, including steps to: identify pathogens, strains of pathogens, or other foods that merit more stringent-specifications; document the scientific basis used to develop the specifications; and review the specifications on a periodic basis”; and (ii) “share information with school districts in a more explicit form regarding the foods covered by more-stringent purchasing specifications related to microbial contamination to enable districts to make more informed choices.”
A federal court has reportedly approved a $760 million government settlement with Native American farmers and ranchers who claimed that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) discriminated against them by denying them equal access to credit through the agency’s Farm Loan Program. Keepseagle v. Vilsack, No. 99-03119 (D.D.C., settlement approved April 28, 2011). A final dispute over attorney’s fees was resolve in class counsel’s favor; they will receive 8 percent of the settlement, or $60.8 million. The Department of Justice apparently urged the court to halve that amount. According to a news source, the settlement funds do not require legislative action to be awarded; farmers must file their claims by December 2011. President Barack Obama (D) said, “Today’s approval of the settlement will help strengthen our nation to nation relationship with Indian Country and reinforce the idea that all citizens have a right to be treated fairly by their government.” Under…
In preparation for the 34th Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Office of the Under Secretary of Food Safety has scheduled a June 16, 2011, meeting to provide information and receive public comments on draft U.S. positions that will be discussed at the Codex meeting. Written comments may be submitted to U.S. Codex Manager Karen Stuck at uscodex@fsis.usda.gov. The Codex session will be held July 4-9 in Geneva, and topics on the agenda include the consideration of draft standards at varying stages of development. Among other matters, Codex participants will consider standards and guidelines relating to risk analysis of foodborne antimicrobial resistance, nutrition labeling, the control of Campylobacter and Salmonella in chicken meat, food additives, maximum levels for melamine in food and for arsenic in rice, fish oils, and hygienic practice for mineral waters, fresh fruits and vegetables. The World Health Organization and the…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has proposed a procedural change that would allow inspectors to keep meat and poultry products from commerce “until FSIS test results for harmful substances are received.” FSIS currently recommends that processors and official import establishments hold sampled products pending test results, but has evidently concluded that his voluntary measure has allowed adulterated shipments to enter the market. “Therefore, FSIS is announcing its tentative determination not to apply the mark of inspection until negative results are available and received for any testing for adulterants,” stated the agency, which will accept comments on the proposal for 90 days after publication in the Federal Register. FSIS has argued that a mandatory “test and hold” requirement will “substantially reduce serious recalls for meat and poultry.” Along with the agency’s new and revised performance standards to reduce Salmonella and Campylobacter incidence in young chickens and…
The Center for Food Safety, Earthjustice and a number of other public interest groups have sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), challenging its decision to deregulate genetically engineered (GE) alfalfa. Ctr. for Food Safety v. Vilsack, No. 11-1310 (N.D. Cal., filed March 18, 2011). Other plaintiffs include the Cornucopia Institute, Geertson Seed Farms, which successfully challenged a previous agency decision to deregulate GE alfalfa, the Sierra Club, and organizations representing the interests of organic and family farmers. The complaint alleges that the environmental impact statement (EIS) that USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) prepared to support its deregulation decision violates the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Plant Protection Act (PPA) and Administrative Procedure Act. The plaintiffs note that the court-ordered EIS “is the first (and only) EIS APHIS has ever completed for any GE crop, in over fifteen years of approving GE crops for commercial use.” Seeking…
The U.S. Secretary of Agriculture is requesting nominations for members to the Advisory Committee on Biotechnology and 21st Century Agriculture. Nominations for one- to two-year terms are requested by April 18, 2011. Members are selected to “achieve a balanced representation of viewpoints” to address USDA biotechnology policy issues. Issues of the most immediate concern involve providing practical suggestions “on ways to strengthen coexistence among different agricultural crop production methods.” See Federal Register, March 18, 2011.
Five Hispanic farmers have filed a putative class action in a D.C. district court against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), to seek “redress from Defendants’ unconstitutional treatment in the proposed settlement of discrimination claims by these Hispanic Plaintiffs . . . as compared to the manner in which Defendants have settled identical discrimination claims by similarly situated African-American and Native American claimants, . . . all of whom were undeniably discriminated against in like manner by [USDA] in the administration of its farm credit and non-credit farm benefit programs.” Cantu v. United States, No. 11-00541 (D.D.C., filed March 15, 2011). According to the complaint, the government has paid African-American farmers about $1 billion in settlement benefits, and legislation signed into law in December 2010 provides an additional $1.25 billion to settle African-American farmers’ claims. Native American farmers were purportedly offered $680 million in compensation and $80 million in debt…
