A report to the Food and Drug Administration may help regulators resolve foodborne illness outbreaks earlier and enable the food industry to respond to them more quickly.
A member of Congress is questioning USDA processes for ensuring that imported meat products are as safe as domestically produced items.
March 6, 2013
In a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) complained that USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) “fundamentally” changed the process with no notice.
When the 2012 Farm Bill stalled in the US House of Representatives this fall, dairy processors doubled down in their opposition to a key provision—the Dairy Market Stabilization Program, under which the government could act to keep milk prices from falling below certain levels.
The 2012 election has maintained the status quo in Washington, which may slightly improve the outlook for passage of the Farm Bill in the lame duck session of Congress.
The US Panama Trade Promotion Agreement took effect this month, reducing or eliminating tariffs on nearly 90 percent of US products entering that Central American nation.