The activist group Food and Water Watch is down as a “strong supporter” of the catfish program now underway in USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). It would, however, like to see more progress and doesn’t like the inclusion of a couple foreign establishments that FSIS has allowed to sign up for catfish inspections.…
Safe Food Coalition says safe handling labels need a rewrite
Seven well-known consumer groups acting together as the Safe Food Coalition are petitioning USDA’s Food Safety and inspection Service for a revised safe handling instruction label for meat, poultry and catfish. The petition calls upon FSIS to continue to require that labels include information about the potential risk of pathogenic contamination in USDA-regulated meat and…
Activists challenge NC’s new ‘ag-gag’ law in federal court
A third state was hauled into federal court Wednesday where it will have to defend its recently enacted law to protect the privacy of animal agriculture under the force of criminal law. North Carolina joined Idaho and Utah in being forced to defend an “ag-gag” law, legislation designed to make it more difficult for animal…
More Poultry Producers Expected to Switch to New Inspection System in 2016
Enlistments in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s New Poultry Inspection System (NPIS) will likely increase in the new year after the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Dec. 21 tossed a legal challenge to the program. The optional NPIS offers the biggest change in poultry inspection since the Eisenhower Administration. USDA’s Food Safety…
Organic Industry Wants Biotechnology Regulated By Process, Not Product
About 40 activist organizations that usually can be counted upon to rally with the organic industry against genetically engineered (GE) plants and animals did just that on Monday. They weighed in with a letter to USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) for the federal regulation of biotechnology products. APHIS has been inviting such…
Food & Water Watch Sues USDA Over New Poultry Inspection Rule
Food & Water Watch (FWW) filed a lawsuit against the Department of Agriculture on Thursday that would stop the implementation of the agency’s New Poultry Inspection System (NPIS). The new poultry inspection rule, announced July 31, requires additional microbiological testing at all poultry processing facilities and introduces a fifth inspection system available for U.S.…
Consumer Group Again Calls on FSIS to Address Food Safety Inspector Shortages
Food & Water Watch (FWW) continues to prod the U.S. Department of Agriculture about shortages of food safety inspectors. In a letter sent to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Monday, FWW Executive Director Wenonah Hauter cited incidents of understaffing in the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), which she said “directly contradict” agency testimony before…
USDA Petitioned to Block Imported Meat From Privatized Inspection Systems
Food and Water Watch has petitioned the U.S. Department of Agriculture to revoke equivalency status for four meat inspection programs in Canada, Australia and New Zealand because they have replaced government meat inspectors with company employees. The Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) “has based its equivalency determinations for these inspection systems for meat imports on…
FDA Allows Irradiation in Crustaceans for Foodborne Pathogen Control
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will allow irradiation on crab, shrimp, lobster, crayfish and prawns to control foodborne pathogens and extend shelf life. After a safety assessment considered potential toxicity, the effect of irradiation on nutrients, and potential microbiological risk, the agency decided to amend current food additive regulations to allow “the safe use…
Meat Industry Loses Attempt to Block Country-of-Origin Labeling
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia is allowing Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) of the born, raised and slaughtered production step on meat to continue. COOL took effect last year, but the meat industry had tried to block the rule. Today, the court denied a preliminary injunction against enforcing COOL and…
Is Country-of-Origin Labeling a Food Safety Issue?
Country-of-origin labeling (COOL) is not a food safety issue. Except when it is. The law requires that much of our food be labeled with its source country, but the requirement that meat be labeled with the specific country where the animal was born, raised and slaughtered is currently an issue at the World Trade Organization…