Ag News: New Food Health Claims/Labeling
**The Trump administration wants to push food companies to use new health claims and labeling language to improve Americans' diets and also is moving ahead with an Obama-era initiative to reduce sodium consumption.
According to Agri-Pulse, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb outlined a “nutrition innovation strategy” last week he likens in importance to past efforts to stop smoking.
FDA also wants to encourage companies to apply for approval to label products with health claims which describe a link between the food and a health outcome.
**Soybean futures jumped on the Chicago Board of Trade Thursday after the USDA surprisingly lowered its expectations for soybean planting while also cutting its outlook for corn acres.
Growers will plant 89 million acres with soybeans this year, down from 90.1 million last year and a February projection of 90 million acres. Corn area will total 88 million acres this year, down from 90.2 million in 2017 and last month’s forecast for 90 million acres.
Analysts had expected soybean acres at 91 million and corn area at 89.4 million acres.
**Thanks to a drop in corn production, Brazilian poultry farmers plan to import U.S. corn.
Rio Grande do Sul expects to harvest 4.6 million metric tons of corn this year, a drop of 23%. The state consumes 6 million metric tons every year.
The first shipment, an estimated 100,000 tons of U.S. corn, will arrive in April.