As the world’s population balloons, agriculture and science have converged to create sustainable, innovative solutions to food production. The fruits of this “Ag Tech” evolution includes groundbreaking technology that has fomented the production of “clean meat” via cellular agriculture as a viable alternative to conventional animal agriculture. Given the novelty of how clean meat is…
IAFP 2016 — Feds channel The Stones: You can’t always get what you want
ST. LOUIS — Neither of the top U.S. food cops on stage here had the moves of Mick Jagger, but they borrowed the sentiment from one of The Stones’ greatest hits when they summed up federal progress on the food safety front. 
The USDA’s Deputy Under Secretary for Food Safety Al…
Letter From the Editor: Time to Call Your Members of Congress
One of the surprises of my life is how much of my time has been spent on various regulatory systems. I fondly remember all my political science professors on such topics as constitutional law, state and local government, federalism, and even Marxism taught by the department commie (I told him to hold the Karl but…
The GRAS Process: How Companies Legally Add Ingredients to Food
Do you ever wonder how controversial ingredients end up in your food in the first place? For instance, why are energy drink companies allowed to add novel ingredients such as botanical extracts to their products? And why were companies ever allowed to use partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs), a major source of artificial trans fat,…
FDA's New Posture Is Promising, Not Pathetic
This article was co-authored by David Plunkett. Both Klein and Plunkett work on food safety issues at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. 
As stakeholders begin wading in to the proposed food safety rules released by FDA this month, it is inevitable that some critics will begin cherry picking issues and holding them…
Cow Share Agreements Will Start Raw Milk Flow in Wyoming
Regulations that will likely result in more people getting sick are the regulations most people want, says Dean Finkenbinder, consumer health services manager for Wyoming’s Agriculture Department. He is referring to language the department plans to send to the Attorney General, making it legal for cow shareowners to acquire the raw milk. It is the…
Mandatory Pig Traceability Coming Soon to Canada
Traceability is soon going to be a requirement for pigs raised for slaughter in Canada. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has written new regulations designed to require pork producers to identify all farmed pigs and farmed wild boars using approved methods and to record and report all movements of pigs from birth or import to…
China Releases Five Year Food Safety Plan
In another attempt to calm consumer fears, China released a five-year plan last week to upgrade its food safety regulations. According to the government, the new plan by the country’s Ministry of Health is aimed at revamping outdated standards, which includes “reviewing and abolishing any contradicting or overlapping standards” and writing new ones. The framework…
Letter From The Editor: Reform Anyone?
I use to tell people I was translator because I earned a living taking the intricacies of regulatory systems and explaining how to meet those requirements to normal business people.
I first developed the skill in construction and land use, and later transferred it to big communications facilities.
There are some common structures to …
Not Much Raw Milk Regulation Change Expected in 2012
In an election year when only 39 state legislative bodies are meeting in regular sessions, with most of those entering their second halves and no special sessions currently underway, there will likely be few changes involving raw milk regulation.
In New Hampshire today, the “homestead food” bill — which would allow the direct sale of …