Feedstuffs

Commissioner Mark Wetjen announced his resignation from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission effective Aug. 28, nearly four years after he was confirmed by the Senate to serve on the regulatory agency.

Trade groups speaking for U.S. chicken and hog farmers asked the government to withdraw, or at a minimum restrict, trade benefits for South Africa until it provides more access for U.S. meat imports, reports Feedstuffs.

The $1 a gallon biodiesel tax credit would be revived along with other incentives for renewable energy in a Senate Finance Committee package of tax "extenders." The committee is scheduled to discuss, and probably vote on, the package on Tuesday.

Members of a Senate Appropriations subcommittee said FDA rules on calorie labels for restaurant and take-away foods are overly broad. The rules are scheduled to take effect on Dec. 1.

The Agriculture Department stopped all new research projects at its Meat Animal Research Center until new protocols are implemented in response to reports of the harsh treatment of animals at the facility in Nebraska, according to Feedstuffs.

The United States and European Union have serious disagreements still to resolve in negotiations for a trans-Atlantic free trade agreement, say the agriculture ministers from each side of the ocean.

Researchers at Texas Tech "found evidence of antibiotics, feedlot-derived bacteria and DNA sequences that encode for antibiotic resistance" in air samples taken near cattle feedlots in the southern High Plains, says Feedstuffs.

"Four animal activists who took pictures of a large southwestern Utah hog farm pleaded not guilty" to violating a state law against entering agricultural property in order to take photographs, says Feedstuffs.

Americans buy more food, in terms of calories, after the year-end holidays than during the holiday season, often maligned as a period of over-indulgence, says a study in PLOS ONE, according to Feedstuffs.

Two new laws take effect in California on Jan 1 - a requirement for egg farmers to give laying hens more room to move around and a ban on import of eggs from outside California if the hens are not given similar freedom of movement.

There were 10.6 million head of cattle in U.S. feedlots being fattened for slaughter on Nov 1, up slightly from this point a year ago, says USDA. Feedstuffs says it is the first time since August 2012 the monthly tally was higher than the year-earlier figure.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia refused to re-hear a meatpacker lawsuit challenging USDA's country-of-origin meat-labeling rules, said Feedstuffs.

The World Trade Organization ruling on U.S. meat-origin labels could be public in "weeks, if not days" in the words of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, says Feedstuffs.

If there are artisanal butchers, there ought to be tasty, locally made meat alternatives, writes Kristina Johnson at Civil Eats, pointing to surveys that show sizable interest in the products.

Miller Milling Co, subsidiary of Tokyo-based Nisshin Flour Milling Inc, announced the purchase for $215 mln of four mills from Horizon and ConAgra that will turn Miller into the fourth-largest U.S. miller.

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization says greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture, forestry and fisheries "have nearly doubled over the past 50 years and could increase an additional 30% by 2050," says Feedstuffs.

Says a story at Feedstuffs, "The U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and the Royal Society, the national science academy of the U.K., released a joint publication Feb. 27 in Washington, D.C., that...

Canada announced on Wednesday "it is enhancing its capacity to track animals from farm to slaughter through a mandatory national pig traceability system," says Feedstuffs.