U.S. Files WTO Case Against China

On September 20, 2011, United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk announced that the United States has requested dispute consultations, a first step in a World Trade Organization dispute, with China. The request challenges China’s “anti-dumping and countervailing duty measures on broiler products from the United States.” The consultation request letter alleges that the duties are inconsistent with provisions of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade of 1994 (GATT 1994). According to the press release from Office of U.S. Trade Representative, since the implementation of these duties U.S. exports of broiler products to China have decreased by 90 percent.

Click here to read the USTR press release

Click here to read the consultation request letter

Written by Andy Schwabenbauer, Research Fellow
September 27, 2011

U.S. Representatives Introduce American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act of 2011

Photo Courtesy of Dreamstime.com

On September 19, 2011, Representatives Dan Burton (R-Ind.) and Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) introduced House Bill 2466, the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act of 2011, that would amend the Horse Protection Act to prohibit the "shipping, transporting, moving, delivering, receiving, possessing, purchasing, selling, or donation of any horse or other equine to be slaughtered for human consumption." The Bill would also grant the Secretary of Agriculture authority to detain any horse for examination, testing, or the taking of evidence at a show, exhibition, sale, or auction which the Secretary has probable cause to believe is "sore"; as well as any horse that the Secretary has probable cause to believe has been "shipped, transported, moved, delivered, received, possessed, purchased, sold, or donated" in violation of the Act. Finally, the Bill would increase the appropriations for the Horse Prevention Act by ten-fold: from $500,000 to $5,000,000.

Horse slaughter plants no longer operate within U.S borders; however, thousands of horses are still shipped to Mexico and Canada for slaughter. This bi-partisan measure aims to end the export and slaughter of U.S. equines for human consumption. House Bill 2466 has been referred to both the House Committee on Agriculture and the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

The comparable Senate Bill, SB 1176, was introduced in the Senate on June 9, 2011; has been read twice; and was referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.

Read the Full Text of House Bill 2466 here.
Read the APHIS Fact Sheet on the Horse Protection Act here.

Posted by Tanya J. Cramoy, Research Assistant

NGCA Announces Agriculture Disaster Assistance Program

On September 12, 2011, the National Corn Growers Association unveiled the Agriculture Disaster Assistance Program (ADAP), a commodity title proposal for the 2012 Farm Bill. The new program aims to provide a more effective and responsive insurance program for growers and would replace the existing Average Crop Revenue Election Program (ACRE). Unlike ACRE, ADAP uses harvest prices and crop reporting districts to set crop revenue guarantees and limits payments to 10 percent of guarantees based on a five-year Olympic average of revenue.

Click here to read the NCGA press release

Written by Andy Schwabenbauer, Research Fellow
September 20, 2011

USDA Anounces Hearing on Proposed Amendments to the Mideast Milk Order

In a hearing notice published in today's Federal Register, the USDA announced that it will hold a public hearing regarding proposed amendments seeking to alter the definition of a pool distributing plant within the Mideast Marketing Order. The proposed changes would cause distributing plants within the Mideast Marketing Order to be regulated by that order if "half of [their] total route disposition is within Federal Milk Marketing Area boundaries and [their] sales patterns are such that no one Order has more than 25% of [their] sales volume." The hearing will be held in Cincinnati, Ohio on Oct. 4, 2011.

Read the published Hearing Notice here.

Written/Posted by Tanya J. Cramoy, Research Assistant

FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine Announces the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System 2009 Executive Report

The FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) announced the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System - Enteric Bacteria (NARMS) 2009 Executive Report.  The report integrates and summarizes data regarding non-typhoidal Salmonella and Campylobacter isolates recovered from three sources: food animals at federally inspected plants, retail meats, and humans. Susceptibility data on Escherichia coli isolates taken from retail meats and chickens was also included in the report, as well as summary data from years past.

Access the NARMS 2009 Executive Report here.

Written/Posted by Tanya J. Cramoy, Research Assistant

FDA Establishing Pilot Projects to Trace Foodborne Illness Sources

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that two pilot projects will explore ways to trace sources of foodborne illness. Under requirement of the Food Safety Modernization Act (Jan. 2011), the FDA must establish, at a minimum, one pilot involving produce and a second involving processed foods. These pilots will examine the types of data that are useful for tracing, the speed with which data is made available to the FDA, the means of connecting points on the supply chain, and other methods and technologies for tracing foods.  The pilots will be directed by the FDA and carried out by the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) under an existing FDA contract. Upon completion of the pilots, the FDA will begin the rulemaking on recordkeeping requirements for high-risk foods, in an attempt to facilitate tracing of foodborne illness sources.

Read the FDA Overview of Product Tracing Pilot Projects here.
Access the FDA's Food Safety Modernization Act Web page here.

Written/Posted by Tanya J. Cramoy, Research Assistant