A USDA review of the American Egg Board's activities found instances of “inappropriate conduct” on the part of AEB officials, but stops short of accusing them of violating the law governing the checkoff. The investigation was triggered in October 2015 after complaints of AEB misconduct relating to an eggless mayonnaise made by Hampton Creek Inc. [node:read-more:link]
In this case it was a Chinese national named Mo Hailong, aka Robert Mo, who was trying to steal patented corn seed for the Chinese bioengineering firm Dabeinong Technology Group Company (DBN), which he worked for, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Mo, a legal resident of the U.S. who was the director of international business for DBN, was sentenced this week in U.S District Court in Des Moines to three years in federal prison followed by three years of probation and an as-yet-to-be-determined-amount of restitution for conspiracy to steal trade secrets. [node:read-more:link]
Following a roundtable discussion with dairy producers near La Crosse, Wisc. today, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that the U.S. [node:read-more:link]
Federal regulators have released an update on the documentation needed to win approval of animal-raising claims on labels before they can appear on meat products. USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) – which regulates labels on meat and poultry – wants more details on how claims such as “organic” or “raised without antibiotics” were achieved as animals were raised. The agency also wants to see documentation to support the claim to make sure the label is “truthful and not misleading." [node:read-more:link]
Oxitec’s mosquitoes have been deployed in Brazil, Panama, and Malaysia, but Keys residents are thwarting attempts to try them in the U.S. The idea behind Oxitec’s experiment is that if enough genetically modified male A. aegypti mosquitoes are released into the wild, they’ll track down large numbers of females in those hard-to-find places and mate with them. The eggs that result from any union with an Oxitec mosquito will carry a fatal genetic trait engineered into the father—a “kill switch,” geneticists call it. The next generation of A. [node:read-more:link]
The first major compliance date for preventive rules for human and animal food under the F.D.A. Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) was Sept. 19. As of that date, larger businesses must comply with new standards; principally, manufacturers must meet preventive control and Current Good Manufacturing Practice (C.G.M.P.) requirements, and animal food companies must meet their specified C.G.M.P.s. [node:read-more:link]
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced increased federal and private-sector support to expand and diversify the U.S. agricultural workforce by increasing opportunities in education, research and outreach. The announcement is part of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and Rural Council initiative, America the Bountiful, a collaboration with federal agencies and private-sector stakeholders to meet the growing demand for a skilled, diverse workforce in the rapidly evolving agricultural landscape. [node:read-more:link]
USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service has rejected another shipment of Vietnamese catfish because it tested positive for residues of banned chemicals. FSIS officials tested a 40,000-pound shipment of catfish and discovered traces of malachite green, a veterinary drug used to treat sick fish, FWW said in a statement. FSIS officials were not available for immediate comment. This is not the first time catfish imports from Asia were rejected since FSIS took over inspection of foreign catfish shipments from the FDA on April 15. [node:read-more:link]
The USDA is not holding veal imports from the Netherlands to the same standards as U.S. veal producers when it comes to antibiotic use and pathogen testing, the American Veal Association (AVA) asserts. “The AVA is concerned the agency has failed to fully assess the Netherlands’ inspection and production system for veal in making its determination that the Dutch system is equivalent to the U.S. [node:read-more:link]
There was a certain kind of quiet hopefulness when, in late April this year, the last Ebola patient of the West African epidemic -- a two-year-old boy -- walked out of a treatment facility in Monrovia, Liberia. With the smoldering embers of the outbreak fading, there was cause for celebration. But there remains the impotent fear of the unseen: Ebola is still out there, lurking. We just don't know where it's hiding or when it will be back. And if we're going to stop Ebola in the future, we have to find its hiding places. [node:read-more:link]
