Category: Department of Agriculture
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GAO Report Urges Preslaughter Inventions to Reduce E. Coli
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued a March 2012 report urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to adopt several measures to reduce Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) in cattle before they are slaughtered. According to GAO, USDA currently recognizes bacteriophages, probiotics, vaccines, and sodium chlorate as preslaughter interventions able to control STEC,…
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Consumer Interest Organization Questions Privatization of Poultry Inspections
Based on documents obtained from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) under the Freedom of Information Act, Food & Water Watch has urged the agency not to expand its pilot HACCP-based inspection project, contending that inspections conducted by poultry processing plant employees miss many defects. While USDA hopes to expand the program, claiming it will…
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USDA Report Critical of France’s Proposed BPA Ban
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Foreign Agriculture Service recently issued a Global Agricultural Information Network (GAIN) report concluding that a French proposal to prohibit all food packaging and materials containing bisphenol A (BPA) would “very likely… impact and jeopardize U.S. processed and other food exports to France.” Introduced after a French National Agency for…
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USDA Proposes Updates to GMO, BSE and Bird Flu Measures
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has published its semiannual regulatory agenda outlining measures currently under development for 2012. Among the agenda items are proposed revisions to the rules that govern “certain genetically engineered organisms [GMOs] in order to bring the regulations into alignment with provisions of the Plant Protection Act.” Billed as the first…
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NRDC Seeks Documents Pertaining to GM Deregulation
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has filed a complaint in a New York federal court seeking an order that would require the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to respond to the organization’s request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for documents on “the agency’s proposed deregulation of herbicide-resistant crops.” NRDC v. USDA, No.…
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Codex Meeting to Target Food Contaminants
The U.S Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, the Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services have announced a February 23, 2012, public meeting in College Park, Maryland, to provide information and receive public comments on draft U.S. positions to be discussed at the 6th Session of…
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NOP Addresses Synthetic Methionine Use in Organic Poultry
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Organic Program (NOP) has issued a proposed rule that would regulate the use of synthetic methionine in organic poultry production after a current interim final rule expires on October 1, 2012. According to a February 6, 2012, Federal Register notice, the rule would amend the National List of Allowed…
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Federal Court Dismisses Challenge to USDA Almond Pasteurization Rule
A federal court in the District of Columbia has determined that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) had the authority to and properly promulgated a rule “requiring that almonds produced domestically be pasteurized or chemically treated against bacteria.” Koretoff v. Vilsack, No. 08-1558 (D.D.C., decided January 18, 2012). So ruling, the court granted USDA’s motion…