The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has announced proposed revisions to its regulations regarding "the movement (importation, interstate movement, and environmental release) of certain genetically modified organisms" (GMOs). The proposal, "the first comprehensive revision of the regulations since they were established in 1987," would adjust how the agency handles permits for plants created as a result of genetic engineering (GE). "While the current regulations have been effective in ensuring the safe introduction of GE organisms during the past 30 years, advances in genetic engineering have occurred since they were promulgated," the announcement states. "APHIS has now accumulated three decades of experience in evaluating GE organisms for plant pest risk. The Agency's evaluations to date have provided evidence that genetically engineering a plant with a plant pest as a vector, vector agent, or donor does not in and of itself result in a GE plant…
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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has issued a press release responding to The Washington Post's reporting on an impending change to pork plant inspections. "FSIS is appalled at The Washington Post’s poor attempt at explaining a proposal to modernize inspection," the press release states. "The Post’s decision to continue to parrot arguments that are devoid of factual and scientific evidence only serves to further the personal agenda of special interest groups that have nothing to do with ensuring food safety. Despite FSIS spending countless hours responding to The Post and providing clarification about the proposed rule, The Post chose to ignore the information and went with an already formed opinion and headline." FSIS argues that the article was "deliberately misleading" on several points and lists 11 rebuttals for statements made in the Post article, including the assertion that the pork industry "soon will…
The meat industry is moving towards self-regulation for identifying diseased animals, an article in The Washington Post asserts. The article documents a series of changes shifting responsibility for identifying contamination in meat production, especially pork and poultry, from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to employees of the regulated production plants. The Post spoke to a former hog inspector who worked under the trial program for testing the proposed system. “I saw the alleged inspections that were performed by plant workers; they weren’t inspections. They were supposed to meet or exceed USDA standards — I never saw that happen,” the Post quotes him as saying. USDA also states that plants participating in the trial program had fewer worker injuries, but Texas State University researchers reportedly found it “impossible” for the agency “to draw any statistically valid conclusion about worker injury rate differences” based on data the researchers obtained through a…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced that it will accept nominations for five vacancies on the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB). Each position on the board is categorized under the Organic Foods Production Act. USDA will accept nominations for: "One individual with expertise in areas of environmental protection and resource conservation"; "one individual who owns or operates an organic farming operation or employees of such individuals"; "one individual who owns or operates a retail establishment with significant trade in organic products or an employee of such individuals"; and "two individuals who own or operate an organic handling operation or employees of such individuals." The chosen candidates will serve on the NOSB from January 24, 2020, to January 23, 2025. Nominations will be accepted until May 20, 2019.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Health and Human Services (HHS) have announced the first meeting of the 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee and the opening of the public comment period on the development of the updated guidelines. The March 28-29, 2019, meeting is open to the public and is the first of five public meetings the agencies intend to hold.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced an online listening session to hear public input about "a new program to regulate hemp production." The agency's Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) will host the webinar on March 13, 2019, with registration required by March 11 to speak during the session. "The Secretary of Agriculture and the respective USDA agencies, including AMS, are working to implement the provisions of the 2018 Farm Bill as expeditiously as possible to meet the needs of producers and other stakeholders," the announcement states. "To allow for public input and ensure transparency, it is important to hear from stakeholders regarding their priorities, concerns, and requests."
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have announced "a formal agreement to jointly oversee the production of human food products derived from the cells of livestock and poultry." The agreement "describes the oversight roles and responsibilities for both agencies and how the agencies will collaborate to regulate the development and entry of these products into commerce," according to a press release. "This shared regulatory approach will ensure that cell-cultured products derived from the cell lines of livestock and poultry are produced safely and are accurately labeled."
The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking to identify the poultry-production plants associated with an outbreak of Salmonella. CSPI requested that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) deliver information on the "name, address, establishment number, and date of positive sample(s)" for poultry products that "tested positive for the outbreak strain of Salmonella Infantis" in raw chicken and "Salmonella Reading" in raw turkey. "In addition to granting the current FOIA request, which may be done by delivering the data to CSPI directly or posting it on the USDA website, CSPI also requests that the USDA develop a practice for reporting this information publicly in all similar multi-source outbreaks moving forward," the request states.
The Center for Food Safety (CFS) has filed a petition recommending that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibit the use of hydroponic agriculture in the cultivation of organic food. "Hydroponic production systems are fundamentally different from organic production systems as defined by federal law—they do not promote soil health or conserve biodiversity," the petition states. "Organic certification of hydroponics thus misleads consumers, because these products are indistinguishable from truly organically produced products with the same label." CFS argues that organic production by definition must include soil, citing the Organic Foods Production Act and noting that the statute and the National Organic Program's final rule implementing it do not include the words "hydroponic" or "soilless." The petition urges USDA to amend existing regulations to expressly prohibit hydroponic systems in organic production and revoke existing organic certifications issued to hydroponic operations.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has reallocated responsibilities between its agencies, resulting in the elimination of the Grain Inspection, Packers, and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA). The Agricultural Marketing Service will absorb GIPSA's previous responsibilities as well as some program areas formerly overseen by the Farm Service Agency. The rule took effect November 29, 2018, finalizing changes initially announced in September 2017.
