An administrative law judge recently issued an order suspending a Nebraska-based livestock operation’s organic certification for four years, agreeing with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) 2008 complaint that the company failed to keep and produce adequate records. In Re Promiseland Livestock, LLC, No, 08-0134 (USDA, Nov. 25, 2009). A supplier for Aurora Dairy and other organic farms, Promiseland Livestock, LLC, apparently operates five ranches in Missouri and Nebraska with more than 22,000 head of beef and dairy cattle. The judge concluded that Promiseland “willfully . . . failed to make requested records available” to USDA and denied agency representatives “access to review and copy organic operation records required to determine compliance” with the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 and National Organic Program regulations. Promiseland first came under scrutiny when The Cornucopia Institute, an organic watchdog, targeted Aurora Dairy for allegedly “illegal” operations, according to a recent press release issued by…
Category Archives Department of Agriculture
Plaintiffs’ lawyer William Marler has apparently filed a second lawsuit against New York-based Fairbank Farms for injury allegedly caused by consumption of E. coli-tainted ground beef. According to Marler, the suit has been filed in a Maine state court on behalf of a woman who was hospitalized for six days after consuming meat produced by Fairbank Farms. Her cultures allegedly tested positive for the same E. coli strain found in the company’s recalled meat. See Food Poison Journal, November 17, 2009. Meanwhile, Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) has called on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Office of Inspector General to investigate the method that meat processors and the agency use to verify that ground beef is free of the bacterium. In her November 12 letter, DeLauro discusses the Fairbank Farms outbreak and notes that the company’s facility sampled its products every 10 to 20 minutes. She states, “However, despite these precautions, it…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agriculture Marketing Service (AMS) has proposed amending regulations that govern the U.S. Standards for Condition of Food Containers. According to AMS, these revisions are necessary to “reflect current industry practices” and include “simplifying sampling plans, updating the acceptable quality levels to incorporate new defects, and updating current defects to include new packaging technologies and interior can defects.” These amendments “could potentially affect more than 26,000 food manufacturing establishments that may request to have their product containers inspected under the provisions of the U.S. Standards for Condition of Food Containers.” The agency will accept comments on the proposal until January 19, 2010. See Federal Register and AMS Press Release, November 19, 2009.
U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) has reportedly introduced the Growing Safe Food Act (S. 2758) to “help educate and train farmers and food processors in food safety.” Similar to the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (S. 510) now stalled in the U.S. House of Representatives, the Growing Safety Food Act would create “a national food safety training, education, extension, outreach and technical assistance program for agricultural producers,” including small and mid-sized farms, food processors and wholesalers. The bill also requests $50 million to administer a competitive grant program, which would assist small and mid-sized businesses in “the areas of handling practices, manufacturing, produce safety standards, risk analysis, sanitation standards, safe packaging, storage, traceability, record-keeping, and food safety audits,” according to a November 10, 2009, press released issued by Stabenow, who penned the legislation after small farmers expressed concern that the Food Safety Modernization Act would impose prohibitive inspection fees and…
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety Inspection Service, (FSIS) will convene a joint meeting to address ways of enhancing current product tracing systems for food intended for humans and animals. FDA and FSIS reportedly intend for the December 9-10, 2009, event to stimulate ideas on improving their ability to “increase the speed and accuracy of traceback investigations and traceforward operations.” More specifically, the agencies want to “identify the source of contamination during outbreaks of foodborne illness and to improve the ability of all persons in the supply chain to more quickly identify food that is (or potentially is) contaminated and remove it from market during traceforward operations.” Public comments will be accepted until March 3, 2010. See Federal Register, November 3, 2009.
Three U.S. Senators have introduced a bill (S. 1783) that would extend mandatory country-of-origin (COOL) labeling to dairy products. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s current COOL law took effect in 2008 and requires origin labeling on meats, nuts and raw produce, but not dairy products or processed foods. The Dairy COOL Act of 2009 extends the current law to include milk, cheese, yogurt, ice cream, and butter, but retains the exemption for processed foods. “With the discovery last year of widespread use of melamine in Chinese dairy products, consumers deserve to know whether the milk used to produce the dairy products they buy meets the high safety standards used in the U.S.,” said Senator Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.), who co-sponsored the legislation with colleagues Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Al Franken (D-Minn.). Franken said the bill helps address the issue of low milk prices by helping “American dairy farmers stand out in…
An organization that seeks to advance the interests of organic and family farmers has filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Organic Program (NOP) and state officials in Wisconsin and Minnesota, asking for an investigation of Target Corp. for alleged violations of federal organic regulations. The Cornucopia Institute contends that Target advertised Silk® soymilk “with the term ‘organic’ pictured on the carton’s label, when in fact the product’s manufacturer, Dean Foods’ WhiteWave division, has been sourcing this product line with conventional soybeans.” According to an institute press release, “Dean Foods, had quietly shifted their products away from organics,” before the Target ads appeared in newspapers throughout the Midwest. Cornucopia’s senior farm policy analyst was quoted as saying, “Major food processors have recognized the meteoric rise of the organic industry, and profit potential, and want to create what is in essence ‘organic light,’ taking advantage of the market…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has announced the availability of a new general food defense plan developed by the Office of Data Integration and Food Protection, with input from small and very small establishments. FSIS has notified facilities identified in a 2008 survey as lacking a food defense program about the voluntary general plan, which aims to “reduce the chances of someone intentionally contaminating the food supply in order to kill or hurt people, disrupt [the] economy, or ruin [their] business.” Designed to reduce company liability, the general food defense plan includes sections on (i) outside security measures, (ii) inside security measures, (iii) personnel security measures, and (iv) incident report security measures. FSIS will also conduct a second food defense survey in December 2009. See Meatingplace.com, September 30, 2009.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has issued an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR) to solicit public feedback on the conditions under which the agency should permit “natural” labeling claims for meat and poultry. The current FSIS standard states that minimally processed meat and poultry products can use the “natural” label if the product “does not contain any artificial flavor or flavoring, coloring ingredients, chemical preservative, or any other artificial or synthetic ingredient.” The agency is now considering whether to define the term “natural” or continue evaluating the claim on a case-by-case basis. It specifically seeks comments on “how best to coordinate FSIS’ regulation of ‘natural’ claims with the Agricultural Marketing Service’s (AMS) voluntary ‘naturally raised’ marketing claim standard.” FSIS will accept comments until November 13, 2009. See FSIS Press Release, September 11, 2009; Federal Register, September 14, 2009.
The Cornucopia Institute, which represents the interests of small organic agricultural operations, has called on the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to investigate charges that Aurora Dairy’s High Plains facility is operating in violation of National Organic Program (NOP) standards. In its August 31, 2009, letter, the institute refers to a similar complaint it filed about Aurora Dairy in 2007. According to the letter, the agency assured the institute that the 2007 complaint “would be incorporated into the probation that Aurora Dairy was operating under, pursuant to a consent agreement signed with the Department. Based on freedom of information documents, obtained by The Cornucopia Institute, no scrutiny of this facility ever took place and the allegations we communicated in 2007 were never investigated.” The letter outlines how Aurora Dairy has allegedly fallen short of NOP requirements and specifically points to the planting of an annual forage crop in the animals’…
