The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will accept comments on recommendations to update the List of Bioengineered Foods as it pertains to the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard. Recommendations include the addition of sugarcane and an amendment to reflect that the only currently available trait for bioengineered summer squash is virus resistance. AMS also noted that it does not find cowpea or rice to qualify for addition to the list but is accepting comments on its assessment. Comments will be accepted until August 24, 2020.
Tag Archives USDA
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has released the first print of the Scientific Report of the 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, which will be used to guide dietary recommendations. Changes include a reduced recommendation for the percentage of added sugars in an adult's diet and a section for children under two years old. The report also notes the effects of COVID-19 on its findings. "As more is learned about infection by SARS-Co V-2 and the development of COVID19, it is clear that it has significant nutritional implications. These parallel epidemics, one noninfectious ( obesity and diet-related chronic diseases) and one infectious (COVID-19), appear to be synergistic. Those at most risk for the most serious outcomes of COVID-19, including hospitalization and death, are people afflicted by diet-related chronic diseases (obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease). Finally, throughout the world, the…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has issued a response to the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine's petition urging the agency to require meat and poultry processing plants to publish information about COVID-19 testing and infection rates at their facilities and to include on their product labels the statement "Warning: Workers in U.S. meat and poultry processing facilities have been sickened or killed by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and this product has not been certified virus-free.” USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service states that it does not have the authority to require facilities to report on the health information of their workers. The agency's response further notes that the proposed warning statement "is misleading because it inaccurately implies that meat and poultry products that have not been 'certified as virus-free' may transmit COVID-19 or are somehow unsafe. As discussed above, public health and food safety experts have found no evidence to…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has released a final rule updating regulations on genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The rule adjusts the regulatory process for specific GMOs created to combat plant pests that pose no increased plant pest risk than conventionally bred plants.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has issued a rule implementing the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP), which was allocated $9.5 billion in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Stability Act. CFAP provides financial support for agricultural producers affected by COVID-19 to help offset sales losses. The Farm Service Agency and Agricultural Marketing Service will implement the program, which is generally available to producers that “suffered a 5-percent-or-greater price loss over a specified time resulting from the COVID-19 outbreak” or “face additional significant marketing costs for inventories.”
President Trump has issued an executive order directing Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue to “ensure the continued supply of meat and poultry” consistent with guidance issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. CDC also issued a report on COVID-19 at meat and poultry processing facilities for the month of April 2020 that found 4,913 cases and 20 deaths among 130,000 workers and cited, among other risks, “crowded, multigenerational” residences and carpooling as relevant factors increasing the likelihood of transmission among employees. The government actions coincide with lawsuits seeking to hold meat and poultry processing plants liable for injury or death caused by COVID-19, including a wrongful death lawsuit brought against Quality Sausage Co. following the death of a forklift driver who allegedly contracted the coronavirus from coworkers. Parra v. Quality Sausage Co., No. DC-20-06406 (Tex. Dist. Ct., filed April 30,…
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has publicly released its April 2020 report on the partnership between the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Department of Agriculture (USDA) on the development of cell-cultured meat. GAO indicated that it began the inquiry after some stakeholders “expressed concern about the agencies' oversight of cell-cultured meat amidst a fragmented federal food safety oversight system.” GAO recommended that “FDA and USDA more fully incorporate leading practices for effective collaboration in the agencies' interagency agreement,” and the agencies “partially concurred and indicated a willingness to incorporate these practices in a more detailed agreement, which would also meet the intent of the recommendations.”
The dispute over the meaning of meat- and dairy-related terms continued in 2019, with more states passing bans on the use of terms implying animal-derived products, such as "burger" or "milk," to describe plant-based products. Nebraska, Arizona and Washington considered bans, and Arkansas' ban was targeted with a challenge from Tofurky that has resulted in a temporary injunction preventing the state from enforcing the statute against the company. Similarly, Mississippi proposed amendments to its meat-defining law after a "vegan bacon" and "vegan chorizo" company argued that the law "harms society." A Missouri court, meanwhile, denied the Good Food Institute's and American Civil Liberties Union's motion for a preliminary injunction to enforce the state's meat-labeling statute. In addition, a bipartisan bill introduced in November, the Real MEAT Act, would define meat-related terms if the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) "fail[] to take appropriate action." The issue…
In a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) have requested changes to the interim final rule on hemp production. Wyden and Merkley, who co-wrote the legislation that legalized hemp farming, passed along feedback from Oregon farmers, researchers and regulators, according to a press release. The letter cites five key complaints: Testing within 15 days of harvest may be "an impossible obstacle for growers to overcome" because it is insufficient time, "particularly if there are a limited number of registered laboratories with sufficient expertise to perform the necessary tests"; The requirement to submit hemp to laboratories registered with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) could "cause tremendous bottlenecks and unnecessary delays," and the 2018 Farm Bill only granted USDA and the Food and Drug Administration "sole regulatory authority over hemp production"; "The interim final rule introduced a new requirement, contrary to the…
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) have sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) urging the agency to "adopt a policy of greater transparency with respect to the microbiological testing" that the agency collects from meat slaughter and processing establishments. The letter cites a Salmonella outbreak in ground beef announced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and notes that investigators "have not identified a single, common supplier" for the affected meat. DeLauro and Gillibrand urge USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service to provide data on the samples it collects to "allow companies, government researchers and members of the scientific community to identify links between pathogenic strains" found in meat samples and in patients identified as affected by the Salmonella outbreak. The Congress members request answers to four questions before December 13, 2019, including an identification of which establishments had samples that resulted…
