food safety

Voters respond strongly to issues such as food safety or assuring that children, veterans and the elderly have enough to eat, said pollster Celinda Lake.

The consumer group Food and Water Watch filed suit in federal court to stop USDA from implementing new poultry inspection rules. USDA says the new rules will modernize inspection and let meat inspectors spend more time looking for and preventing microbial contamination of meat. Food and Water Watch says the plan, which allows plants to run slaughter lines are higher speeds, abdicates USDA's responsibility to identify meat that is not wholesome.

The Grocery Manufacturers Association, a trade group for foodmakers, "will give the Food and Drug Administration access to a large database of safety information for chemicals used in processed foods, from Twinkies to almond milk," says Politico.

The Agriculture Department proposed a regulation to allow import of pork and pork products from "a low-risk classical swine fever region in Mexico" and set a 60-day comment period on it. Swine fever, also called hog cholera, is a highly contagious viral disease among pig but does not cause foodborne illness among humans. It was eradicated in the United States in 1978, says a USDA fact sheet

"(F)ood and beverage companies have been a particularly hot target" for activists on social media, says Politico in a review of activities since the uproar over lean finely textured beef AKA pink slime. "Three of the top seven most popular petitions of all time on Change.org are about animal welfare in meat production, and more than two dozen food-related petitions have each earned tens of thousands of signatures, many of them hundreds of thousands."

Consumer Reports announced a campaign today to bar the use of the word "natural" on food products. There is no way at present to verify "natural" and Consumer Reports say its nationwide poll shows shoppers...

The House Appropriations Committee is likely to release today a draft of the FY15 USDA funding bill. It could include provisions, sought by conservative Republicans, to delay or overturn school lunch rules. On Tuesday, House and Senate subcommittees are scheduled to mark up the spending bills. "We expect they will act on Tuesday May 20 to gut nutrition standards through the appropriations process," says the consumer group Center for Science in the Public Interest in a on-line petition.

The Environmental Working Group asked the government to "launch a new investigation to determine whether the use of diphenylamine, or DPA, is safe for U.S. consumer," said Food Safety News.

The panel writing the new edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans - the government's tips for healthy eating - is wading into the question of food systems sustainability.

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.