On Apr. 18, 2013, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published the annual report on the “Incidence and Trends of Infection with Pathogens Transmitted Commonly Through Food – Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network, 10 U.S. Sites, 1996 – 2012.”

The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) Reform Act would help ease concerns created by the ethanol mandate and protect consumers, energy producers, livestock and poultry producers, food manufacturers, retailers and the U.S. economy.

On March 12th, the Agriculture Marketing Service (AMS) published a proposed rule to amend the Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) regulations.

Winston Churchill once said that Americans are a great people in that you could always count on them to do the right thing, once they had tried everything else.

Around the start of the New Year, I was writing a 2013 economic preview for our sister magazine, The National Provisioner.

The House of Representatives yesterday approved a $55 million shift of funds within the USDA in order to prevent any layoffs of federal meat inspectors and disruption to the meat and poultry industry.

U.S. Senators agreed to shift $55 million in funds within the Department of Agriculture on Wednesday to avoid temporary layoffs of all U.S. meat inspectors due to federal budget cuts.

The Pryor/Blunt amendment would transfer $55 million in existing agriculture funds to FSIS in order to ensure food inspectors are not furloughed.

At presstime in late February, sequestration had become the No. 1 topic for the meat and poultry industry.

Mike Brown testified on behalf of a broad food manufacturers coalition about the need for a stable and permanent workforce that can help sustain the rural communities where meat and poultry facilities operate.