FDA

Lawmakers are cued up to examine issues ranging from farm credit to the Endangered Species Act as the House Appropriations Committee meets today to mark up fiscal 2017 spending legislation for the USDA and FDA. The Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee approved the $21...

Officials say the sanitary transportation rule finalized by the FDA last week overall is a positive step, requiring transporters of human and animal food to follow best practices like proper refrigeration, cleaning vehicles between loads and protecting food during travel but it shouldn't exempt the most problematic group, small box trucks...

The FDA has issued a rule finalizing three previously issued interim rules regarding bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE. The rules were designed to further reduce the potential risk of BSE, commonly referred to as mad cow disease, in human food...

The EPA is close to appointing an agriculture panel within its Scientific Advisory Board, as required by the 2014 farm bill, to review EPA actions that could negatively affect agriculture, though lawmakers are less than impressed that the action has taken this long...

USDA is stockpiling up to 500 million doses of a new vaccine against avian influenza, yet many in the $48 billion poultry industry don’t want it. The National Chicken Council’s Ashley Peterson said “as soon as you vaccinate any bird, you are telling the world bird flu is endemic, and countries are going to stop buying from us, some of them for years...

Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack will announce food waste reduction goals tomorrow. This first-ever initiative will set a national goal for food waste reduction within a specific timeframe. The announcement occurs just one week before world leaders begin to gather at the United Nations General Assembly in New York to address sustainable development practices and goals, including sustainable production and

USDA has announced a request for proposal to stockpile vaccine doses in preparation for another potential wave of highly pathogenic avian influenza. While the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has not approved use of a vaccine, the agency wants to ensure it is available should it be needed...

A bill that would make GMO labeling voluntary passed the U.S. House last Thursday. The Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act would require developers of genetically engineered plants to obtain FDA safety clearance on all new plant varieties before those foods are introduced into commerce; uphold FDA’s authority to specify special labeling if it finds a health or safety risk is posed by such a variet

More lawmakers are showing support for a national labeling law. A House hearing last week by the Energy and Commerce subcommittee on health reviewed a labeling bill introduced by Kansas Representative Mike Pompeo and North Carolina Democrat G...

Last week - the European Commission approved 17 different genetically modified agricultural products for food and feed through careful, scientific analysis. However - with the announcement - the American Farm Bureau says the EC also undermined its principled position by recommending individual states be permitted to opt out of importation or use of the products within their own borders... Read Mor

A coalition representing family farmers, ranchers, consumers and rural affairs submitted testimony urging Congress to reject any policy riders in the Fiscal Year 2016 Ag Appropriations bill that would weaken or withdraw COOL or limit the rule making authority of GIPSA...

Researchers from the University of Edinburgh have found cows are protected from a parasite that causes a deadly disease - East Coast Fever - if they've previously been infected with a closely-related yet milder species of the parasite. After tracking 500 Kenyan calves from birth to age 1 - researchers found deaths caused by East Coast Fever dropped 89-percent among calves infected with other speci