In the fiscal year 2019 budget that sets out to cut domestic programs by almost $700 billion over 10 years, federal food safety has not only escaped the knife but made some small gains.
President Donald J. Trump’s $1.1 trillion discretionary budget proposal adds $9.4 billion to the Department of Health and Human Services, the…
Changes to how pork slaughter plants could be regulated are going forward after a mere 21 years in the making. President Donald Trump’s Administration has approved a final rule that had its origin during President Bill Clinton’s Administration.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) isn’t known for rapid change, but…
The folks who write POLITICO’S Agriculture Tip Sheet were celebrating an anniversary Tuesday. Not their own, but the one-year anniversary of USDA’s proposed organic aquaculture standards being hung up in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) at the White House. 
For at least another three years, consumers shopping for steak and other whole cuts of beef will continue to be left in the dark about beef treated with mechanical tenderization, a processing technique that softens up meat but can drive potentially harmful pathogens below the surface. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has been working…
The top 10 food-safety news stories for 2014, as chosen for the sixth consecutive year by the editors of Food Safety News, were announced today. According to the Internet news site, here are this year’s most important food-safety stories: 1. The U.S. Department of Justice backs up federal food-safety agencies, including USDA and FDA, with …
The federal government could be doing more to achieve the goals of the U.S. Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) and other food-safety efforts, according to a 46-page report published Thursday by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). The amount of food-safety oversight reported by the federal government varies between the nation’s two major food-safety agencies,…
Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) is urging the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to finalize two pending food safety rules. DeLauro wrote to OMB director Shaun Donovan Monday, expressing her concern that if the mechanically tenderized beef rule and a rule regarding added solutions in meat and poultry products are not completed before the end…
Don’t expect comment period extensions for the reproposed rules regarding the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). That’s what Michael Taylor, the Food and Drug Administration’s deputy commissioner for foods and veterinary medicine, told attendees Wednesday at the United Fresh Produce Association Washington Conference. He said he had hoped to be discussing details of the reissued…
Organizations representing workers and consumers want the Department of Agriculture to follow the Food and Drug Administration’s lead by releasing the revised poultry inspection rule for public comment. Last week, the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) submitted a draft final version of its Modernization of Poultry Slaughter Inspection rule to the Office of…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture submitted a draft final version of its Modernization of Poultry Slaughter Inspection rule to the Office of Management and Budget for review today. The proposal to build on the HACCP Based Models Project (HIMP) has been a controversial one. Critics such as Food & Water Watch are concerned that the…
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is requesting approval to evaluate local and state food safety programs (FSPs), according to a proposal posted to the Federal Register on Friday, Jan. 17. “The current tight fiscal environment faced by U.S. health departments has led to a significant reduction in funding for public health programs,…
