Category: Department of Agriculture
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USDA-IOG Issues Audit Report on Organic Milk Operations
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Office of Inspector General (OIG) has released a July 2013 audit report examining how the Agricultural Marketing Service’s (AMS’s) National Organic Program (NOP) established the “access to pasture” rule for organic dairy cattle. Although OIG generally found that the new rules for organic milk production were “successfully implemented,” it…
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Counsel Awarded $90.8 Million in Black Farmers’ Discrimination Suit
A federal court has awarded $90.8 million to the attorneys who represented African-American farmers in litigation against the U.S. Department of Agriculture alleging discrimination in the loan application process. In re Black Farmers Discrimination Litig., No. 08-0511 (D.D.C., decided July 11, 2013). Additional details about class counsels’ request appear in Issue 405 of this Update. Explaining…
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Animal Rights Groups Challenge USDA Action on Horse Meat Plants
A coalition of animal rights organizations has sued U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack under the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA), claiming that the agency failed to conduct a required environmental review before granting the application of a “horse slaughter plant operator in New Mexico, bringing the nation closer to its first horse…
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Meat Trade Groups Challenge COOL Labeling Regulations
Trade organizations representing the interests of cattle and pork producers and meat processors in Canada and the United States have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), challenging country-of-origin (COOL) labeling regulations that took effect May 23, 2013. Am. Meat Inst. v. USDA, No. 13-1033 (D.D.C., filed July 8, 2013). They seek declaratory…
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USDA Approves Horse Slaughter Plant
According to a news source, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has granted permission for slaughterhouses in New Mexico and Iowa to convert their facilities into horse-processing plants, the first such facilities to be licensed since Congress banned the practice seven years ago. Other applications for horse-processing plants are reportedly being considered in Missouri, Oklahoma…
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USDA Issues Notice About Codex Activities
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has issued a notice informing the public about upcoming sanitary and phytosanitary standard-setting activities of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex) and seeking comments on standards under consideration and recommendations for new standards. The notice, which also lists other standard-setting activities, including “commodity standards, guidelines, codes of practice, and revised…
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USDA Establishes Stringent New Rules for Food and Beverages Sold in Schools
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has issued an interim final rule amending the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program regulations “to establish nutrition standards for all foods sold in schools, other than food sold under the lunch and breakfast programs.” Acting under Section 208 of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010,…
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GAO Report Criticizes USDA School Lunch Standards
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently issued a report criticizing the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for its “limited” response to school districts that had trouble implementing the new school lunch nutrition standards for the 2012-2013 school year. According to GAO, which gathered feedback from eight districts, schools reported that restrictions on the amount…