FDA

Kansas Sen Jerry Moran is chairman of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on agriculture for the next two years. "Subcommittee memberships are being determined and will be announced as soon as possible," said the Appropriations...

In a long-form story, Modern Farmer describes the evolution of food safety operations at FDA. "Over the last century, there’d been a shift toward large, centralized food distribution systems.

The government has erased from its books the regulations for two export subsidy programs, the Export Enhancement Program and Dairy Export Incentive Program, that were mothballed years ago.

Second-term Sen Jeff Merkley of Oregon is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on agriculture and FDA for the 114th Congress, said Sen Barbara Mikulski, the Democratic leader on the committee, in a statement.

Assistant House Majority Leader Kate Webb, a sponsor of Vermont's GMO food labeling law, is scheduled to testify at a House subcommittee hearing on federal regulation of the foods on Wednesday.

A large number of the medically important antibiotics given to cattle, hogs and poultry now sold over the counter to livestock producers will come under veterinary control in the next couple of years, says the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association.

Seed companies such as Scotts Miracle-Gro and Cellectis Plant Sciences are utilizing techniques to genetically modify crops that are outside of federal jurisdiction or use methods that were not imagined when the regulations were created, said the New York Times.

The government lacks an over-arching performance plan for food safety nor do USDA and FDA engage in broad-based collaboration of their overlapping food safety programs, said the Government Accountability Office.

The House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on health scheduled a hearing for next Wednesday on labeling of GMO foods. The session, "Examining FDA's role in the regulation of genetically modified food ingredients," is expected to provide a...

Consumer Reports released consumption guidelines for consumer who want to reduce their exposure to inorganic arsenic in rice and again urged FDA to set standards for arsenic in rice-based foods.

The FDA program to phase out use of antibiotics as a growth promotant in food animals "may allow some injudicious uses to persist," says the Pew Trusts' Campaign on Human Health and Industrial Farming.

Studies tend to show limited results from putting calorie counts on restaurant and fast-food menus, says Emily Oster, associate economics professor at Brown.

The government issued two regulations that require calories to be listed on menus in chain restaurants and similar outlets that sell prepared food and for vending-machine food.

A lawsuit in federal court in San Francisco challenges FDA approval of several ractopamine-based animal drugs. The Humane Society of the United States, the Animal Legal Defense Fund and the United Farm Workers union says...

Grocery chain Trader Joe's should help preserve the effectiveness of antibiotics by putting stricter standards on its meat suppliers, says Consumers Union.

The farmer-funded National Pork Board "will use an online marketing campaign to counter a critical television documentary on antibiotics use in livestock," says Reuters.

Four consumer groups and the United Food workers union asked the White House to expedite the creation of the catfish inspection program, now six years past due.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will head the Department of Health and Human Services in the new administration, said President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday. “For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation when it comes to public health,” said Trump in announcing the nomination.