In mid-December, U.S. Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) introduced a bill that would move the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and its seafood inspections to the U.S. Department of the Interior. More broadly, the act transfers all functions of the U.S. Departments of Labor and Commerce to a newly established Department of Commerce and the Workforce. In doing so, a handful of offices would be moved elsewhere, including NOAA (currently under Commerce) to Interior. Burr said that the consolidation of “duplicative programs” would reduce spending. “The president has proposed merging and consolidating federal agencies several times over his two terms, and this bill advances that proposal,” Burr said in a statement. NOAA’s fee-for-service Seafood Inspection Program offers inspections for businesses to demonstrate food regulation compliance and become eligible for stamping with official marks, such as U.S. Grade A, Processed Under Federal Inspection and Lot Inspection. In January 2012, the director of the Office of Management and Budget said that if Congress were to grant President Obama the power to consolidate federal agencies, the White House would want to merge food safety agencies into one. The president’s first plan to merge six business-oriented and trade agencies also included a plan to move NOAA to the Department of the Interior.
The News Desk team at Food Safety News covers breaking developments, regulatory updates, recalls, and key topics shaping food safety today. These articles are produced collaboratively by our editorial staff.
The Food and Drug Administration uses import alerts to enforce U.S. food safety regulations for food from foreign countries. The agency updates and modifies the alerts as needed.
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The European Commission is consulting on plans to introduce cereulide limits for infant formula.
Proposals cover dried infant formula, dried dietary foods for special medical purposes intended for infants under
Nearly all of the public argument about this bill has been about food chemicals: dyes, PFAS, the GRAS loophole. That is where the fight started, and it is where the coalition backing the bill would prefer the fight to stay.
Four farming unions in the United Kingdom have renewed calls for a ban on imports of Brazilian meat to align with European restrictions.
In a letter to Angela Eagle, Defra
The seed supplier behind a multi-state outbreak linked to sprouts may have been named quietly in an obscure FDA report.
First reported by Phyllis Entis on eFoodAlert.com, the
PK brand Roasted Lemon N’ Chilli Peanuts are being recalled in Canada because of Salmonella contamination.
The peanuts were distributed in Ontario and Quebec, according to the Canadian Food Inspection
El Eden Import Distributor Corp., a Long Island City, NY, firm, is recalling 264 pounds of potato chip products containing chicharrón (pork cracklings) because they were produced in the Republic
A partnership between the World Health Organization (WHO) and Singapore has been expanded to include risk assessment.
Singapore Food Agency’s (SFA) National Centre for Food Science (NCFS) has been
