Spotty commitment to animal welfare (Civil Eats): Many food suppliers and food service companies have committed themselves to animal-welfare reforms. But years into their commitments, only a few are on track to meet their goals.
Tighter race for House Ag panelist (Roll Call): Democrats nominated a top-tier candidate in downstate Illinois, making re-election tougher for Rep. Mike Bost, a Republican member of the House Agriculture Committee.
Whole Foods exodus (Wall Street Journal): More than a dozen Whole Foods executives have left the company since its acquisition by Amazon last year, including leaders of its sustainability and local food departments.
Another suit over organic livestock (Center for Food Safety): Four environmental and consumer groups sued the USDA for killing a regulation that would have set animal-welfare standards for livestock on organic farms.
Washington State will end farming of Atlantic salmon (Associated Press): Gov. Jay Inslee signed a law that will phase out marine farming of Atlantic salmon and other nonnative fish by 2022.
British soda tax already a winner (Washington Post): Soda companies have reformulated some of their products to reduce the sugar content and avoid a tax that takes effect in two weeks.
Mega-Foods (Bloomberg): Amazon is on the hunt for larger Whole Foods locations, where it can integrate its delivery services with retail aisles dedicated to popular non-food Amazon products.
Lab-grown pork would be kosher (Times of Israel): A prominent Orthodox rabbi says meat grown artificially from the cells of a pig could be consumed by Jews because it would have lost its original identity.