The U.S. dairy sector is reeling after its loss in the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement dispute with Canada over that country’s quotas.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., says the USMCA ruling is an “unacceptable” outcome that puts U.S. producers and exporters at a disadvantage despite the trade deal that garnered significant bipartisan support in Congress.
The three-member dispute panel’s “decision leaves in place a status quo of Canadian dairy restrictions that is simply unacceptable,” Smith says. “American farmers deserve a level playing field, and Canada must uphold both the spirit and the letter of its obligations under USMCA.”
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced the loss on Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. Smith suggests there will be a lot of disappointment expressed on Capitol Hill this week.
“Improved agricultural market access and enhanced enforcement mechanisms were key victories achieved under the USMCA for American farmers and workers,” he said. “They were some of the many reasons the agreement received overwhelming bipartisan support. I will continue working with partners and stakeholders to ensure transparent and equitable access to Canadian markets for U.S. dairy producers.”
USDA to fix effective date for organic standards
USDA will have to delay the effective date for implementing higher animal welfare standards for organic poultry and livestock. The effective date for the new rule was set for Jan. 2, but the Government Accountability Office has found that Congress wasn’t officially notified of the rule until Nov. 13. By law, the House and Senate should have been notified 60 days ahead of the effective date, GAO says.
In a statement, USDA says it’s “working to address this error, and a conforming extension to the effective date will be published in the Federal Register in the coming days.” The statement says the change won’t have a meaningful impact on farms.
Why the rule matters: The higher standards likely will have the largest impact on large-scale organic egg producers. Many of those operations are expected to transition to cage-free production because of the land requirements the new rule will bring.
FDA asked to update regulations on non-animal testing methods
FDA hasn’t updated its regulations on animal testing for new drug approvals nearly a year after Congress enacted the FDA Modernization Act 2.0 to eliminate the 84-year-old animal-testing mandate. In a letter to FDA Commissioner Robert Califf signed by five Republican and four Democratic senators, the lawmakers ask “what specific steps the agency is taking to update its animal testing regulations” and its timeline for implementing a revised regulatory framework.
Neil Wilcox, board president of the Center for Responsible Science and former senior science policy officer in FDA’s Office of Science, says the center requested updated regulations in 2015 via the Administrative Procedure Act to use test-neutral language that would include alternatives to animal tests.
“While disappointed that we never received a substantive response from the FDA, I’m hopeful that the agency will act expeditiously to update the regulations to comport with the new law, as is required,” Wilcox says in a statement.
Legislation would revise how FDA considers safety of food chemicals
Some senators want to create an Office of Food Chemical Safety, Dietary Supplements and Innovation at FDA to close what supporters say is a loophole that allows companies to self-designate food chemicals and additives as safe.
Sens. Edward Markey, D-Mass., and Cory Booker, D-N.J., have introduced the Ensuring Safe and Toxic-Free Foods Act that would strengthen the Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) process.
In a statement, Booker says, “Food companies have been taking advantage of a major gap in US food safety laws to add new chemicals to foods without an independent, scientific review of those additives’ safety. As a result, thousands of food products in the United States contain additives that have been banned in other countries for being carcinogenic, endocrine-disrupting, or developmentally harmful. Americans should not have to eat foods with ingredients that have known health harms.”
China drives US soybean trade in latest weekly data
U.S. net export sales of soybeans for the week of Nov. 10-16 totaled 961,300 metric tons, and once again Chinese buyers were the biggest purchasers. The Chinese contracted to buy 757,400 tons for delivery in the 2023-24 marketing year, according to the latest weekly trade data from USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service.
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As for weekly exports, the U.S. shipped about 1.7 million tons, with roughly 1 million of that going to China. Spain was a distant second, taking 167,900 tons.
Avian flu’s impacts felt by 389 commercial poultry flocks
The spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza across the U.S. in the last month has left 389 commercial poultry flocks infected with the disease. Farmers in Minnesota, Iowa, and Ohio have seen the heaviest toll.
More than 1.4 million birds in 14 commercial flocks have been impacted in the past 30 days, according to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. Over 1.3 million birds have been infected in Ohio, and another 1.2 million in Iowa.
That’s not all: At least one flock has been confirmed infected in 47 of 50 U.S. states during the most recent outbreak.
Ingredion to pay $8 million to settle Clean Air Act violations
A major manufacturer of plant-based ingredients will pay a fine of more than $1 million and spend nearly $7 million on improvements at its Indianapolis plant to reduce and offset unpermitted emissions of particulate matter, according to federal and state agencies.
The Ingredion corn wet milling facility had been in violation of Clean Air Act permits at least since 2015, according to a complaint filed with a proposed consent decree in federal court in Indiana.
As part of the settlement, Ingredion agreed to give $560,400 to the state of Indiana to support “brownfields” redevelopment in and around Marion County.
According to the complaint, the plant exceeded Clean Air Act emissions limits for particulates and volatile organic compounds, and did not operate and monitor its equipment as required.
In a statement to the Indianapolis Business Journal, the company says it’s committed to “being a good neighbor and operating safely in the Indianapolis community.”
