I’m pretty jaded when it comes to the federal government — no matter who is running it. But I do know that without filling the spokes in the government’s wheels nothing is going to happen. And some spokes are more important than others.
Faithful readers know Food Safety News is counting the days for the…
There is always a healthy amount of skepticism from parents whenever children claim they were able to clean their rooms in five minutes. While the children may have met the literal requirement of the parent’s request, you wonder what surprises would be discovered if you checked under the bed, in the closet or in the…
A provision included in the $1.1-trillion spending bill Congress passed last week and which is now headed to the president’s desk prevents poultry processed in China from being used in the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, Child and Adult Care Food Program and Summer Food Service Program (Section 736 of Division A…
Unsure whether the congressional spending package referred to by many in Washington, D.C., as the “cromnibus” had enough votes to pass, House GOP leaders delayed a final vote Thursday afternoon, but, after 9 p.m., they managed to pass the bill 219-206. In order to keep the government from shutting down while the Senate debates the …
Four Chinese poultry processing plants have been approved to export cooked chicken to the U.S. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has approved China’s export health certificate which demonstrates that poultry exported to the U.S. was raised and slaughtered in the U.S., Canada or Chile and that it was cooked…
China may be moving closer to legally exporting processed cooked chicken to the United States. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has received from China a list of four plants that the country has certified as eligible to export processed chicken here. But before exportation can occur, China must develop a proper export health certificate that…
School nutrition standards were the central focus of Thursday’s House Appropriations Committee markup. Democrats attempted to remove a provision from the agriculture appropriations bill that will give certain schools a waiver on compliance with nutrition standards. After an hour of debate, the amendment introduced by the subcommittee’s ranking member, U.S. Rep. Sam Farr (D-CA),…
Food safety advocates have launched a Change.org petition aimed at getting Congress to keep chicken from China off U.S. plates. The petition asks Congress and the Obama administration to ensure that Chinese-processed chicken is not included in the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, Child and Adult Care Food Program and Summer Food Service…
On Wednesday, Bettina Siegel, author of The Lunch Tray blog, published an article entitled, “USDA Misinforms Parents About Chinese-Processed Chicken in School Meats.” In response, USDA has posted a clarification on its blog that all the chicken it provides to school lunches is domestic. “Schools that participate in the National School Lunch Program…
This editorial was originally published Sept. 25 on The Lunch Tray. On August 30, the USDA announced that it will allow four Chinese facilities to process poultry raised and slaughtered in the United States, Chile or Canada, and then export the cooked poultry products back into the United States. The USDA’s move is widely…
