At its recent policy conference in Washington, D.C., the Organic Trade Association (OTA) heard from Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack about the future of organic farming. Vilsack told OTA members that he views organic as “its own separate commodity,” and he is committed to treating it that way. He wants to increase coverage options for… Continue Reading
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack told reporters Wednesday Congress should come up with a better solution for handling unwanted horses than slaughtering the animals for meat for human consumption. His comments came as USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service has five at least partially completed applications to slaughter horses for human consumption, probably only… Continue Reading
Under the sequester, which recently put in place across-the-board budget cuts, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has no choice but to eventually furlough meat inspectors, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack again said on Friday. The statement comes after some lawmakers and industry groups questioned whether USDA needed to furlough inspectors and argued that the department had… Continue Reading
A powerful world panel is recommending that the United States be dropped to the lower “negligible” risk classification for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or Mad Cow Disease, an opinion praised by Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. BSE is a fatal neurodegenerative disease that originates in cattle. It causes a spongy degeneration of the brain and… Continue Reading
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and the White House have caused quite a stir in food and agriculture circles by warning that budget sequestration could lead to a two-week furlough of federal meat inspectors, which would effectively halt American meat and poultry processing. The meat industry has responded by arguing that the U.S. Department of Agriculture… Continue Reading
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) this week announced the re-chartering of the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods (NACMCF) and named who exactly will be serving on the advisory committee. The committee provides recommendations to both Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Secretary of Health Kathleen Sebelius, who… Continue Reading
For only the second time in ten years, Japan on will further ease restrictions on U.S. beef imports starting February 1 to allow entry of beef and beef products from cattle less than 30 months of age. Previously, a 2006 restriction limited U.S. beef imports to products from cattle less than 20 months of age…. Continue Reading
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced it has stopped annual food safety audits for foreign countries shipping meat to the U.S. and will now do these audits just once every three years. The policy change was made nearly three years ago, and Food Safety News exclusively reported on the scale-back nearly three months ago, but USDA’s Food… Continue Reading
Opinion
I wrote a few imaginary New Year’s resolutions for some of our newsmakers that we haven’t gotten around to publishing until now. As the great Willie Nelson would say: “Funny how time slips away.” Truth be told, some of my colleagues thought I was being too harsh on the government this year. I don’t think… Continue Reading
Editor’s Note: It’s time to put out the milk and cookies for Santa Claus and read the Food Safety News Naughty and Nice List for 2012. This is the fourth N&N list we’ve prepared. Our annual Naughty and Nice List along with our New Year’s Resolutions are among the traditions we’ve continued to observe as… Continue Reading
Opinion
In the long history of the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), there have been plenty of issues to protest. I think it was those “fish sticks” we got in Catholic school that nearly extinguished my taste for seafood until I went through a recovery program on the Seattle waterfront. Not everything was bad. I remember… Continue Reading