The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced a November 15, 2022, public meeting to discuss and vote on adopting measures related to controlling Salmonella in poultry products. The meeting will also include an update on actions related to Cyclospora cayetanensis as well as an additional work charge on Cronobacter in powdered infant formula. Parties interested in expressing comments during the meeting must register by November 8, 2022.
Tag Archives USDA
A federal appeals court has ruled that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is not clearly required by federal law to issue a regulation barring hydroponic growers from labeling their goods as organic. Ctr. for Food Safety v. Vilsack, No. 21-15883 (9th Cir., entered September 22, 2022). A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit unanimously held in an unsigned, unpublished opinion that the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA) of 1990 does not clearly bar hydroponic production. The ruling comes in an appeal brought by consumer and organic farming industry groups in their suit against USDA filed in 2020 after the agency rejected their 2019 petition to issue regulations prohibiting organic certification of hydroponic agricultural production. They argued that hydroponic operations fail to satisfy the tenets of organic farming and do not meet the statutory and regulatory requirements of OFPA. The district court disagreed, granting the…
The Biden administration has announced a new U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) rule it says will promote inclusive competition and market integrity in the livestock, meat and poultry markets. At a September 26 meeting of the White House Competition Council, President Joe Biden announced the proposed Inclusive Competition and Market Integrity rules under the Packers and Stockyards (P&S) Act “to provide for clearer, more effective standards to govern the modern marketplace.” The proposed rule would revise existing regulations under the P&S Act by prohibiting certain prejudices and disadvantages against covered producers in the livestock, meat and poultry markets and would prohibit retaliatory practices that interfere with lawful communications, assertion of rights and participation in associations, among other protected activities. “Highly concentrated local markets in livestock and poultry have increasingly left farmers, ranchers, growers and producers vulnerable to a range of practices that unjustly exclude them from economic opportunities and undermine…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has released its final rule amending its labeling provisions requiring dual labeling for meat or poultry products, which will take effect Oct. 17, 2022. The proposed rule sought to amend the Food Safety and Inspection Service’s (FSIS) labeling regulations to remove provisions that require packages of meat or poultry products that contain at least one pound or pint, but less than four pounds or one gallon, to express the net weight or net content in two different units of measurement on the product label. FSIS revisited the regulations in response to a petition submitted by a small meat processing establishment. After conducting a review of the regulatory provisions and comments on the proposed rule, FSIS determined the provisions were unnecessary. The final rule adopts the requirements of the proposed rule, with some non-substantive changes to the proposed regulatory language. Under the final rule, all FSIS…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is accepting comments on proposed changes to organic standards for livestock and poultry production. Issues addressed in the proposed changes include livestock health care practices, living conditions, transport and slaughter. The many proposed changes include a limit on the types of physical alterations permissible in organic livestock production, such as needle teeth clipping and tail docking in pigs, and the establishment of a distinction between requirements for mammalian living conditions and avian living conditions based on different physiological needs. Comments will be accepted until October 11, 2022.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued a report suggesting that federal agencies can better coordinate guidance on healthy eating. The report found that GAO's previous recommendations had not been implemented, including a 2021 recommendation that Congress "consider identifying and directing a federal entity to lead a strategy on diet-related efforts." The agency also recommended in 2017 that the presidential administration develop a strategy for federal food oversight. "We have long reported on the fragmented federal food safety oversight system. We added federal oversight of food safety to our high-risk list in 2007; federal government operations on this list either need broad reform or are vulnerable to fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement. We added this issue to the list because of inconsistent oversight, ineffective coordination, and inefficient use of resources. For example, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) had critical information on contaminated eggs that ultimately sickened more than…
The attorneys general of 22 states have submitted a letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Department of Agriculture (USDA) asserting that the agencies "are not sufficiently prioritizing a public health problem long overdue for robust action: children’s exposure to neurotoxic heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, and mercury) through foods specifically designed and marketed for babies and young children." Led by New York Attorney General Letitia James, the group argues that the existing plan to set limits on heavy metals, the Closer to Zero Plan, has "lengthy and vague timelines, which now extend to mid-2024 and beyond," and is "already behind schedule." "As a result of this and other agency delays, U.S. baby food manufacturers continue to largely self-regulate the amount of lead (and other toxic elements) that is contained within their products. Indeed, it remains up to the manufacturers to decide whether even to test their…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced a public meeting scheduled for April 19, 2022, to discuss U.S. positions for the meeting of the Codex Committee on Contaminants in Foods of the Codex Alimentarius Commission. Issues to be discussed include: "Maximum level for cadmium in cocoa powder (100% total cocoa solids on a dry matter basis)"; "Code of practice for the prevention and reduction of cadmium contamination in cocoa beans"; "Maximum levels for lead in certain food categories"; "Maximum levels for total aflatoxins in certain cereals and cereal-based products including foods for infants and young children"; "Sampling plans and performance criteria for total aflatoxins in certain cereals and cereal-based products including foods for infants and young children"; "Maximum level for total aflatoxins in ready-to-eat peanuts and associated sampling plan"; "Maximum levels for total aflatoxins and ochratoxin A in nutmeg, dried chili and paprika, ginger, pepper and turmeric and associated sampling…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) has proposed its regular update to the National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances, which lists the synthetic substances allowed in the cultivation of organic products. The proposed additions are (i) low-acyl gellan gum, which is used as a thickener, and (ii) paper-based crop planting aids, which can transplant closely spaced crops. The proposal also includes a spelling change from "wood resin" to "wood rosin" because the latter term is more specific. Comments on the proposed changes will be accepted until April 4, 2022.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced a public meeting to receive comments on the U.S. positions for the Codex Alimentarius Committee meeting on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses. The public meeting, which will be held October 19, 2021, will include discussions on a draft guide for ready-to-use therapeutic foods and the establishment of nutrient reference values-requirements for those aged 6-36 months.
