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Conveyor Currents
                     May 27, 2016
      


In This Issue
CGFA Career Builders Raffle
FDA Publishes Intentional Adulteration FSMA Rule - Feed, Pet Food Exempt
Obama Threatens Veto of Energy-Water Bill over WOTUS; ND Judge Awaits Higher Court Action
Roberts, Stabenow Keep Dancing over GM Labeling
House Agriculture Committee holds Major Food Waste Hearing
OIE Sets Antimicrobial Resistance Strategy
Upcoming Dates
 
2016
October 26, 2016:
CGFA and NGFA Joint Grain Safety Seminar
DoubleTree, Fresno, CA


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CGFA Career Builders Raffle

There is still time to enter the Career Builders raffle by creating a profile on the  CGFA Careers Center! If you didn't make it to the CGFA Convention last month, you and the person responsible for recruiting at your office can still each win a $250 gift card - details below:

 




FDA Publishes Intentional Adulteration FSMA Rule - Feed, Pet Food Exempt
Yet another final rule implementing the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) was published this week by FDA, this time laying out the process by which some registered FSMA companies - both foreign and domestic - identify and prevent intentional adulteration "intended to cause widespread harm to public health."


Listed under the exempted categories are companies engaged in "the manufacturing, processing, packing or holding of food for animals."  Farms are not covered by the rule.  Details of the new rule can be found at www.fda.gov/FSMA.


"This is the first time that companies are required to create a written food defense plan, FDA said, with firms required to identify, evaluate and control possible hazards. Covered companies are required to identify "vulnerabilities and actionable process steps," mitigation strategies and procedures for food defense monitoring, corrective actions and verifications.  A reanalysis is required every three years.


The rule is designed to primarily cover large companies "whose products reach many people," and smaller companies are exempted.  The rule covers 3,400 companies operating 9,800 food facilities.

Obama Threatens Veto of Energy-Water Bill over WOTUS; ND Judge Awaits Higher Court Action

The House FY2017 energy and water spending bill is "strongly opposed" by the White House because it contains language blocking EPA's controversial rulemaking on "waters of the U.S. (WOTUS)."  President Obama said this week he'll veto the bill if it reaches his desk.


At this point, the president need not worry.  The bill, under consideration on the House floor May 26, failed.  Contributing to the bill's demise was language approved this week - rejected last week - to guarantee gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) workers protection from discrimination by federal contractors.  The amendment process was also bogged down with several unrelated amendments, most brought by Democrats.  It was the LGBT protections, pushed by Democrats that again turned out to be the final nail.  Said House Speaker Paul Ryan (R, WI):


"What we learned today is that the Democrats were not looking to advance an issue, but to sabotage the appropriations process. The mere fact that they passed their amendment (on LGBT protections), then voted against the bill containing their amendment, proves this point."


The Administration was also not happy with language in the bill that would take on power plant CO2/carbon recapture rules at EPA, as well as language to suspend Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections that are limiting irrigation waters supplies in the drought-stricken Central Valley of California.


In a related WOTUS development this week, a federal district judge in Fargo, ND, said he'll suspend proceedings in his court seeking to reverse the EPA rule pending action in a higher federal court or the U.S. Supreme Court.  The White House claimed victory in the decision which affects federal action brought by several states against EPA, even though the Administration had sought to have the states' case dismissed when the 6th U.S. Court of Appeals agreed to hear consolidated cases against EPA.  The judge denied the government's petition to dismiss, as well as another petition to withdraw a preliminary injunction which blocked implementation of the WOTUS rule in 13 states. The judge said his decision to suspend proceedings was to avoid duplicative proceeding between his court and the court of appeals.


EPA is blocked by a court order from implementing the WOTUS rule, regulatory action by the agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to expand regulatory authority under the Clean Water Act (CWA).  The White House contends the language in the spending bill "would disrupt the Administration's current efforts to clarify the scope of the CWA," while "hamstringing future regulatory efforts and creating significant ambiguity regarding existing regulations and guidance."


The next round of White House veto threats will come when the House Appropriations Committee considers the Interior-EPA FY2017 bill.  The House version would cut EPA's budget by $164 million, to $7.98 billion, $291 million less than requested by President Obama.  Most of the reductions would come from slashing agency regulatory programs by about 6% across the board. 


Also included in this spending bill are riders to prohibit spending on WOTUS, the White House's Clean Power Plan, a set of regulations on new and existing utility plants designed to enhance CO2/carbon reduction and recapture, as well as EPA's ozone rulemaking.

Roberts, Stabenow Keep Dancing over GM Labeling
With the clock ticking down to the July 1 effective date of Vermont's genetically engineered (GE) food labeling law, and with food companies beginning to seriously consider reformulating food products without GE ingredients, Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Pat Roberts (R, KS) and committee ranking member Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D, MI) appeared this week to be inching closer to agreement on a federal solution to the GE labeling issue.


Both Roberts and Stabenow have exchanged draft legislative language and earlier this week the two lawmakers and their staff directors met face to face in a lengthy negotiating session. At issue is language necessary to preempt state laws on GE food labeling, how to exempt animal foods, as well as USDA-regulated meat and dairy, and the means by which food companies must disclose to consumers how they can obtain information on food ingredients.


Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, speaking this week to a policy meeting of the Organic Trade Assn. (OTA), said it's his hope Roberts and Stabenow will "see the light" and agree on creating a USDA-run flexible mandatory disclosure program for food products. 


Without action, Vilsack said, "We have a de facto labeling system in this country. We now have states, businesses and companies making the decisions (to label) on their own.  The problem with that is there is no consistency, predictability or stability, and consumers can easily be confused...because there is no standard."  


Stabenow's office has been targeted with emails, voicemails and faxes by members of the Just Label It! campaign led by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), urging her to resist Roberts' overtures and reject anything other than mandatory on-package GE labeling.  Sen. Jeff Merkley (D, OR) and Sen. Barbara Boxer (D, CA) have both introduced mandatory GE labeling bills.


Whatever the final product, it must be politically palatable enough for the GOP that Roberts does not lose conservative caucus members as Stabenow seeks to keep her side of the aisle happy.  If it all works out, there will be at least 60 votes necessary to invoke cloture and move to a final vote on the compromise package.  If approved by the Senate, House leadership right now appears willing to take up the Senate-passed version.


Proponents of a federal solution to a potential patchwork of state labeling laws had hoped an agreement could have been reached so that a vote on the compromise package could have been held this week, but it's now certain nothing will be done in the Senate until it returns from spring recess the week of June 6.

House Agriculture Committee holds Major Food Waste Hearing

As House Agriculture Committee Chair Mike Conaway (R, TX) expands his panel's review of food and agriculture production in the U.S. in preparation for the 2018 Farm Bill, the committee this week held its first-ever hearing on food waste in the U.S.


After explaining his goal is to engage a variety of stakeholders, Conaway said, "Forty percent of the food grown in this country is wasted. That amounts to 133 billion pounds of food being wasted...considering we have 45 million people currently receiving food assistance through SNAP, I believe this is a tremendous opportunity for us to take a closer look at our food chain and figure out a way to ensure the food grown in this country reaches the dinner table, not the trashcan."


Hearing witnesses identified a major contributor to food waste, the lowly "sell-by" and "use-by" labels on most food products.  Consumers assume the dates, used primarily as marketing tools by companies, are indicators of food quality and safety, and many routinely throw out food simply because the sell-by or use-bay date has passed.  Another problem identified by witnesses is the inability or reluctance by companies to donate perfectly safe food to charities and food banks out of fear of liability.


Conaway pointed out the FY2016 omnibus spending package approved last December included a permanent tax deduction for companies which donate food, along with the protections of the Good Samaritan Food Donation Act, enacted in 1996.  He said the long-standing Samaritan Act, the brainchild of the late Rep. Bill Emerson (R, MO), addresses the liability concerns of companies wishing to donate food to charities and food banks, and inserted into the hearing record a memo from the Department of Justice spelling out the direct protections of the law, along with the "preemptive effect" on state laws that may not provide protections.  


Rep. Chellie Pingree (D, ME), who has introduced two bills aimed at mitigating the food waste issue, was the lead-off witness at this week's hearing.  She reminded the committee USDA and EPA announced earlier this year the first food waste reduction goal of 50% less by 2030. She said "many - if not most - solutions" to this problem are "common sense proposals that we can all agree on," a sentiment echoed by Conaway.


Pingree described a bill she's introduced as "a pretty simple proposal."  Because date labeling is inconsistent among states and the federal government and confusing to consumers, the federal government would create two labels - one that says "expires on" for food that is unsafe if eaten after a certain date, and the other saying "best if used by" for everything else.  At the same time, no state or local health department could ban the donation of "perfectly good food" simply because the label date has passed.


In a joint statement from Conaway, Pingree and committee ranking member Rep. Collin Peterson (D, MN), the trio said, "Tackling this problem requires us to look at every part of the food system. Food gets wasted on the farm, in grocery stores, restaurants, grade schools, universities and in our homes. A little common sense, public education and change in behavior will go a long way toward reducing the amount of good food we throw away every year."

OIE Sets Antimicrobial Resistance Strategy
The World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) this week released its recommended strategy for combating antibiotic resistance and protecting the effectiveness of antibiotics used in human health and veterinary medicine.  OIE helped the World Health Organization (WHO) develop its action plan on antimicrobial resistance.


In effect, OIE developed a set of principles which it has asked its member countries to adopt. This allows it to build off a set of international standards developed in 2015 after OIE determined there is a lack of national laws regulating the import, manufacturing, distribution and use of antimicrobials in 110 of 130 countries surveyed.
The following actions were recommended:
  • Regulate the manufacture, distribution and use of antimicrobials in animals in alignment with international standards;
  • Train veterinarians and animal health professionals on the appropriate use of the drugs;
  • Communicate and educate stakeholders, including the public;
  • Utilize high quality medicines and alternatives;
  • Ensure veterinary supervision of "judicious antimicrobial use in animals," and
Monitor antimicrobial use and antimicrobial resistance trends.



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