Best-selling food author Marion Nestle paid a quick visit to Food Safety News during a stop in Seattle to discuss food politics, the supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP, formerly known as food stamps), and food safety. Seattle readers may want to know that Nestle will be giving a talk and Q&A tonight (June 18) at… Continue Reading
Congreswwoman Louise Slaughter (D-NY) sent a letter to President Obama asking that he “pay special attention to the issues of antibiotic resistance” at this week’s G-8 summit in Northern Ireland. Rep. Slaughter also urged the president, as she has before, to consider stronger limits on antibiotics allowed to be used in animal agriculture. In a… Continue Reading
The Pew Charitable Trusts commended Congressman Tom Latham (R-IA) last week for his leadership in securing approximately $27 million in additional food safety funding for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in the appropriations bill that is moving through the House. As Food Safety News reported Friday, the food safety funding boost was approved as… Continue Reading
The House Appropriations Committee on Thursday approved a $19.45 billion funding bill to support the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, among other agencies, for fiscal year 2014. The bill would ban funding for USDA horse slaughter inspection and give FDA a relatively minor boost for food safety — $27… Continue Reading
The Senate approved a farm bill on Monday evening 66 to 27. The legislation, which has a $955 billion price tag over the next decade, would end direct payments to farmers and boost subsidized crop insurance, but the bill did not include major food safety amendments, including Sen. John McCain’s provision to repeal the controversial… Continue Reading
Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval Thursday vetoed a bill to allow raw milk produced in rural Nye County to be distributed statewide, including the Las Vegas metropolitan area. The Republican governor said his veto of Assembly Bill 209 (AB209) was prompted by the health concerns surrounding unpasteurized milk. He said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration… Continue Reading
Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), chairwoman of the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee said on Wednesday she is concerned about the food safety implications of the proposed acquisition of Virginia-based Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest pork producer and processor, by Shuanghui International, the largest meat company in China. “American consumers have long been able to trust the… Continue Reading
Citing the growing threat from antibiotic resistant infections, nearly 800 health care professionals signed onto a letter sent to the Obama administration on Tuesday urging more limits on antibiotics used in food animal production. “Current patterns of antibiotic use in agriculture not only increase the risk of antibiotic-resistant infections in people but also support an… Continue Reading
The sale of Smithfield Foods, the United States’ largest pork producer, to Shuanghui International, China’s largest meat company, raises new questions about the future of ractopamine, a controversial growth-promoting drug that is widely used in U.S. pork production and has long been the subject of trade disputes. As a report by the Food & Environment… Continue Reading
Opinion
Vernon Hershberger was not the first and won’t be the last of the raw milk outlaws to get off or get mostly off by a jury — his recent trial did give an economic development boost to tiny Baraboo, WI. The town was filled with food freedom celebrities and raw milk adherents for the weeklong… Continue Reading
The end of any legislative session can get a little chaotic. In Carson City, they’re having end-of-session parties this weekend with adjournment coming no later than Monday, but the already passed Assembly Bill (AB) 209 still has not made its way to the Governor’s desk. Asked Thursday whether Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval has taken any… Continue Reading