A workshop entitled “CORRALing a Foreign Animal Disease” will help inform cattlemen on the implications of a foreign animal disease outbreak and what the response efforts by state and local authorities might look like. The workshop is also intended to help better prepare cattlemen for responding to and preventing a disease or other emergency incident. [...]
Archive for the ‘Food Safety’ Category
4 Jan
President Obama to Sign Food Safety Bill Today
President Barack Obama will sign the $1.4 billion food safety bill today that sets the biggest change to oversight of the food industry since 1938 and gives the Food and Drug Administration more regulatory authority. However, Republicans are sending signals of a funding fight for the new regulations. Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.), who will chair [...]
1 Dec
Food Safety Bill Dead on Arrival
**Update, Update** According to the AFBF policy department, the House will not take up S. 510 because of certain revenue provisions contained in the bill. House leadership has “blue-slipped” the bill, preventing its consideration until the revenue issues are resolved. **Update** Roll Call’s John Stantonis now reporting that the House will assign a new bill [...]
30 Nov
Senate Passes Food Safety Bill
The Senate passed the Food and Drug Administration Food Safety Modernization by a 73-25 vote earlier today. The House is expected to approve the Senate version of the bill with no changes and President Barack Obama is expected to sign the measure. The Senate legislation would: —Allow the FDA to order a recall of tainted [...]
31 Aug
Colorado Egg Producers Tout Safety of State’s Eggs
Palisade peaches, Rocky Ford melons and Olathe sweet corn are just a few of the locally produced fruits and vegetables that have been tickling our taste buds this season. The Colorado Egg Producers (CEP) Association, a membership organization representing seven family farms, would like to remind you that in addition to seasonal fruits and vegetables, [...]
5 Jul
Colorado Bison Meat REcalled for E. Coli Concern
A Colorado company has recalled 66,000 pounds of bison meat sold nationwide after federal agriculture officials linked it to E. coli sicknesses. Rocky Mountain Natural Meats in Henderson recalled the ground and tenderized bison after it was linked to sickening five people in Colorado and one in New York, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said [...]
22 Jun
Small Meat Processors Endangered by New Regulatory Costs
Small and independent meat processors are at significant economic risk due to increased regulatory costs included in a preliminary draft guidance document issued by the Food Safety and Inspection Service, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation. The document spells out new and costly requirements for local meat processors under the Hazard Analysis and Critical [...]
16 Apr
Audit Finds USDA Falls Short on Tracking Residue in Beef
The Agriculture Department’s Office of the Inspector General concluded in a March audit report that USDA, along with the Food & Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency “is not accomplishing its mission of monitoring the food supply for harmful residues.” The bulk of the report focuses on recommendations from the inspector general for jump-starting [...]
18 Jan
NY Times Prints Meat Association Letter
National Meat Association Director of Communications Jeremy Russell wrote a letter to the editor published in Sunday’s New York Times that took exception to an article that questioned the efficacy of Beef Products Inc.’s ammonia treatment of beef to kill pathogens, and a subsequent editorial on the same topic. “Instead of encouraging efforts to improve [...]
5 Jan
Russia Blocks Import of U.S. Poultry
Russia began blocking imports of U.S. poultry as of Jan. 1 because of concerns about a commonly used chlorine treatment, USDA and a Russian news agency reported last week. Russia plans to proceed, over U.S. objections, with a new law prohibiting chlorine as an anti-microbial treatment in poultry production, said Katie Gorscak, a USDA spokeswoman. [...]
1 Dec
China Shows Promising Signs of Lifting Pork Ban
China’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) and Ministry of Agriculture have issued a joint announcement stating that the ban imposed on U.S. pork and other swine products due to H1N1 influenza has been cancelled. The ban on import of live swine is not included in the announcement, and it is understand that this and other [...]
12 Nov
Cargill to Administer Vaccines to Sow Herd for H1N1
Cargill is hoping a shipment of vaccinations will arrive in time to treat the company’s sow herd against H1N1, according to Meatingplace. Cargill spokesman Mark Klein said the H1N1 vaccine would be administered to Cargill’s 120,000 pigs as part of the company’s semiannual vaccination program in mid-December. The company should know later this month whether [...]
16 Oct
Cal Poly Alum Protests Pollan Solo Lecture
A solo lecture by food activist Michael Pollan scheduled for 11 a.m. Pacific time today on the campus of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo was hastily converted to a panel discussion after alumni, including the chairman of Harris Beef Ranch Co., protested. Pollan will participate in a panel discussion that includes Gary Smith, a Colorado [...]
14 Sep
‘Call it H1N1′ Update
After a recent teleconference during which Ag Sec. Tom Vilsack scolded the mainstream media for perpetuating the term ‘swine flu’ it looks as though some in the media are getting the message. It remains to be seen if the change in language will happen in time to reduce the devastating effect that the use of [...]
4 Sep
TIME Writer Admits Piece was Slanted
Bryan Walsh, who wrote a damning article on modern agriculture in Time magazine, admitted in an AgriTalk interview with Mike Adams Monday morning that the story took the angle he wanted to pursue rather than presenting both sides in a balanced, objective manner. He said it’s been a trend at Time to have “more stories angled toward the [...]
27 Aug
Meat Groups Blast Time Article
Meat industry groups are airing discontent with the Aug. 31 Time magazine cover story “The Real Cost of Cheap Food” that is loaded with inaccurate information and has no hint of objectivity. The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, the only meat industry group quoted in the article, lashed out with a press release outlining the steps [...]
24 Aug
Trent Loos Responds to TIME Hitpiece on Ag
From Feedstuffs, Ag broadcaster and commentator Trent Loos responds to the Time article on modern agriculture.
21 Aug
Time Magazine Attacks Modern Farming
Without even a hint of objectivity, Time magazine is using the cover story of its Aug. 31 print edition to attack modern agriculture. The story is a wide-ranging frontal assault on all aspects of modern food production, and the story is written in a manner that the very few words included to give agriculture a [...]
18 Aug
British Ministers: Increase GM Crop Imports
British government ministers are urging the European Commission to speed up approval of GM crop varieties or risk a collapse in the market for home-produced chicken, eggs, pork and milk. The move could apply to 30 GM crop varieties that have passed the EU’s scientific tests on health and safety but which still await political [...]
18 Aug
The Week H1N1 Stole the Farm
Call it H1N1, please. The last week of April 2009 will be a week hog farmers will never forget. The week changed our lives and not in a positive way. The last week of April is when the H1N1 flu outbreak became news. Most media outlets tagged an inappropriate name to the flu virus. The unintended [...]
18 Aug
Hog Producers and Supporters #Oink it Up on Twitter
On Sunday, hog producers and other farmers from around the country, along with ag supporters, used the microblogging site Twitter to urge the media to use the scientifically accurate term “H1N1” rather than swine flu when referring to influenza. Messages about how pork is safe to eat and that human-to-human contact, not pork consumption, spreads [...]
12 Aug
South Korea Lifts H1N1 Ban on Live Hog Imports
The South Korean government has lifted its ban on live hog imports from North America. The ban was imposed in April out of fear surrounding the H1N1 viral outbreak. In a statement issued Tuesday, South Korea’s agricultural ministry said live hog imports from the United States, Canada and Mexico are set to resume with stepped-up [...]
6 Aug
U.S./China Trade Dispute
The World Trade Organization (WTO) has accepted China’s request for a dispute panel to decide whether a U.S. ban on cooked poultry imports from China violates WTO trade rules. The dispute panel will decide the impact on trade rules of Section 727 of the Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009, which prohibits the U.S. Department of [...]
31 Jul
House Passes Food Safety Bill
The House passed the Food Safety Enhancement Act (H.R. 2749) Thursday on a mostly party line vote of 283-142. The Senate must now act on the House bill or take up a food safety bill of its own; the American Farm Bureau Federation expects the Senate will use S. 510 introduced by Sen. Dick Durbin [...]
29 Jul
Activists Step Up Opposition to Roundup Ready Sugarbeets
Anti-Agriculture activists in Boulder County have stepped up their efforts in the media to slander and malign sugarbeet production on open space land. Activists are lining up to attack the Roundup Ready Sugarbeets that local farmers have requested permission to produce on county-owned open space land. The Boulder Daily Camera has a story on sweeteners [...]
29 Jul
Study Author Admits False Link Between Meat and Cancer
A much-publicized meat study that was released two years ago was flawed, the author of the report now admits. The epidemiological study, which declared there was “convincing” evidence linking the consumption of red meat with cancer, specifically colorectal cancer, was flawed, and the author of the report who has promised to write a letter to [...]
27 Jul
Coalition Urges Pelosi, Hoyer to Oppose Antibiotic Ban
The Coalition for Animal Health, which includes American Farm Bureau Federation and other organizations that represent veterinarians, farmers and ranchers, food and feed producers and animal medicine manufacturers, wrote a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) asking that the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act of 2009 [...]
27 Jul
Biotech Controversy Grows in Boulder County
Boulder County owns a significant number of acres of farmland. Called “open space” the program seeks to preserve the county’s agricultural heritage by leasing that farmland back to producers. A controversy has been growing over the county’s ban on the use of biotech sugar beets on open space land. Farmers leasing the acres are under [...]
23 Jul
Group Wants Cancer Warning on Hot Dog Packages
The Cancer Project filed a lawsuit in Essex County, N.J., on Wednesday, asking the court on behalf of three state residents to compel hot dog makers to put a cancer warning label on packages, the Los Angeles Times reported. The group, a branch of the Washington, D.C.-based activist group Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, wants [...]
23 Jul
All States Except Florida Officially Removed from Russian Pork Ban
With last weeks removal of New York, Utah and Wisconsin from Russia’s A-H1N1 influenza-related trade suspensions, the suspension of pork exports from Florida was apparently the only portion of the import ban remaining in effect. The status of pork exports from Arizona and California was still unclear, however. While Russia had reported those two states as being eligible to export [...]
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