The United States has not recorded a case of foot-and-mouth disease in nearly 90 years. The livestock industry, pharmaceutical companies and the government "would not be ready to handle an outbreak of the disease if it were to hit," says DTN.

Perhaps Americans paid attention to the roll-out of the updated Dietary Guidelines, which for the first time recommend a limit on consumption of added sugars to no more than 10 percent of daily calories. A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in mid-January "finds that 58 percent [of respondents] say they tried to limit sugar in their diets in the previous 30 days," says Reuters.

Two meta-analyses of research on organic milk and meat say the products contain 50 percent more omega-3 fatty acids than conventionally produced meat and milk, reports the New York Times. "However, the question of whether these differences are likely to translate to better health in people who eat organic meat and drink organic milk is sharply disputed."

The White House proposed $35 million for kitchen-equipment grants to schools in its fiscal 2017 budget, a $5 million increase from the current year and "more than any budget provided since the 2009 stimulus hand-out" of $100 million, writes Bettina Elias Siegel, author of the blog The Lunch Tray, in a Civil Eats story.

With cattle ranchers pushing hard, Congress barred the government from considering sustainability in the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines. An advocate for including the subject, Miriam Nelson, sees the chance for success in the 2020 guidelines.

Low oil prices are translating into low prices for polyester fiber, especially in China, which produces nearly three-fourths of the world's polyester, says the International Cotton Advisory Committee.

Yemen is "a forgotten crisis," says the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, which says the number of food-insecure people has grown 12 percent in the past six months due to armed conflict and restrictions on food imports.

The U.S. Forest Service released a new report on Monday, detailing the effects of drought on forests and rangelands.

Spurred by record-high cattle prices in 2014 and early 2015, U.S. ranchers are expanding their herds with plans to send more cattle to slaughter in coming months. The USDA says the number of calves is up 3 percent from a year ago and the number of beef cows is up 4 percent.

Half of Americans consider factors such as health and wellness, safety, social impact, and transparency when buying groceries, says a food-industry study. The "evolving drivers" of food purchases mean taste, price and convenience - the longtime standbys - no longer are predictive.

Complying with a congressional directive, the FDA barred imports of genetically engineered salmon, "months after approving the first such animal as safe to eat," says the website Regulatory Focus.

Cattle ranchers and feeders expanded their herds 3 percent in the past year, to 92 million head at the start of January, and cattle numbers, which generally declined since 1996, are up for the second year in a row, says the semi-annual Cattle inventory report.

The think tank Center for Budget and Policy Priorities says "more than 500,000 and as many as 1 million of the nation's poorest people" will lose food stamp benefits during 2016 "due to the return in many areas of a three-month limit on benefits for unemployed adults aged 18-49 who aren't disabled or raising minor children."

A year after "Ketchup 'n' Fries" aka TomTato - a plant that produces tomatoes and potatoes - became available to gardeners in the United States and Europe, the same seed and plant company in England is offering "Egg and Chips," "after a favorite English dish of fried eggs and French fries. Although in this case, the eggs are eggplants," says Modern Farmer. "The chips part is dead on, since the plant produces potatoes as well."