Just label It is throwing in the towel. The never-ending campaign by the organic industry’s top political players to force GMO labeling on the entire food industry says its time to move on. After a 63-30 vote late Friday for a national GMO labeling scheme that was opposed by Just Label It, Stonyfield Farm’s Gary…
Senate easily invokes cloture on GMO label bill; final vote next
After being showered with handful of paper money thrown over the gallery rail by a single protestor, the U.S. Senate invoked cloture on a GMO-labeling bill by a 65-32 vote Wednesday, meaning that the compromise proposal for a federal law on how grocery products will be labeled when they do and don’t contain genetically modified…
Vermont bill would extend on-farm slaughter exemption
A bill to extend on-farm slaughter privileges for small farmers in Vermont is set for discussion and a possible vote in the state Senate’s Agriculture Committee next week. Proponents include small farmers and fans of local food. They say allowing small animal farm operations to slaughter on site is better for the animals, the farmers…
Senate splits over labeling food with genetically engineered ingredients
A divided U.S. Senate Wednesday could not invoke cloture to bring the Biotechnology Labeling Solutions Bill to vote. The cloture vote, which required 60 for passage, failed by a dozen votes, 48-49. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Pat Roberts, R-KS, would have stopped states from imposing their own labels on foods containing genetically modified ingredients.…
GMO labeling gets another look in two New England states
Today and tomorrow the Rhode Island House Committee on Health, Education and Welfare and the House side of the New Hampshire General Court will hear bills about labeling food made with genetically modified organisms (GMOs). A bipartisan majority of the New Hampshire Environment and Agriculture Committee led by Rep. John O’Connor, R-Derry, has recommended against…
Vermont Dairy Farm Agrees to Stop Violating Drug Residue Regulations
A Vermont dairy farm family, which has had trouble keeping drug residues from showing up in the meat it sells for human consumption at or below tolerance levels, has agreed to a permanent injunction and consent degree with the federal government. Correia Family Farms was named in a complaint Monday for a permanent injunction brought…
No Product Found to Compare to VT Outbreak Strain — or to Recall
An all-too-common problem for foodborne illness investigations is that the only real evidence gets eaten. That appears to be what happened with the E. coli illnesses in Vermont last month, where 11 people had E. coli O157:H7 infections that state health officials blamed on likely contamination from undercooked hamburgers. 
Food Safety News last reported on…
Undercooked Burgers Likely Caused E. Coli Outbreak; Ground Beef So Far Escapes Recall
Not quite a month ago, Vermont health officials announced they were dealing with an E. coli outbreak, which would eventually grow to an estimated 11 cases in three states. It was likely caused by restaurant hamburgers made from local grass-fed beef and prepared to satisfy the tastes of its customers, no matter how rare. Inside…
Publisher’s Platform: Undercooked Burger was a Bad Idea in ’93, it is Stupid in ’15
In 1992 in response to a growing risk of pathogenic E. coli being linked to hamburger being cooked to the 140 degrees then suggested by the FDA Food Code, the State of Washington Department of Health increased the recommended temperature to 155 degrees – the only state to do so. Officials disseminated the new temperature…
Update: Six Vermont E. Coli Cases Being Linked to Undercooked Ground Beef
Officials with the Vermont Department of Health say that two more cases of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) have been linked to ground beef that was served at Worthy Burger in South Royalton, VT. That brings the outbreak total to six confirmed and three probable cases. According to a Wednesday, Sept. 30, news report,…
State Legislatures Pass on Adopting GMO-Labeling Policies This Year
U.S. Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-KS) may want to send some thank-you letters out to state legislative leaders who shut down efforts to get in his way this year. Pompeo is the GOP’s point man in Congress on federal policy to preempt the states from writing their own laws requiring the labeling of food containing genetically…