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The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), in consultation with the Department of Agriculture, announced the members of the Task Force for Reviewing the Connectivity and Technology Needs of Precision Agriculture in the United States (Task Force). The Task Force, an advisory body to the FCC, will investigate the current state of broadband access in agricultural lands…

On October 31, 2019, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) published an interim final rule (IFR) on domestic hemp production. This rule establishes a regulatory framework for USDA oversight of domestic hemp production in accordance with the 2018 Farm Bill.  While many questions remain about how the federal government, including the U.S. Food and…

Yesterday, FSIS issued its long-awaited guidance on the labeling and packaging of “kit” products. Although FSIS has long informally applied its “kit policy,” this FSIS Compliance Guideline marks the first public guidance that FSIS has provided on the topic. The Compliance Guideline generally reflects the Agency’s informal policy without significant change.

Under its kit policy,…

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) recently released the Spring 2019 Unified Agenda of Regulatory Actions, which outlines the rulemaking actions currently under development in each federal agency. This memorandum summarizes the major actions that may be of particular interest to the food industry that are being planned by the U.S. Food and Drug…

On April 17, 2019, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) issued a proposed rule that would eliminate the requirement that certain packages of meat or poultry products display net weights using the so-called “dual declaration” format (e.g., requiring that some products declare weight in both pounds and ounces).…

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has issued a Draft Guideline detailing the Agency’s expectations of companies that identify foreign material in their meat and poultry products and more generally providing recommendations for how establishments should craft their complaint handling policies. FSIS states that it developed the document in response…

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced today a formal-agreement coordinating joint jurisdiction over the production of products derived from cell lines of livestock and poultry. This agreement marks the next significant step in establishing the regulatory framework for these products and…

On Friday, November 16, 2018, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Perdue and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Gottlieb announced a joint regulatory framework to oversee cell cultured products. Under the proposed framework, FDA plans to oversee cell collection, cell banks, cell growth, and cell differentiation. USDA will oversee cell harvest, production,…

On August 1, 2018, two consumer groups sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue, and Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) Administrator Bruce Summers for failing to meet the statutory rulemaking deadlines for the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard (NBFDS). The suit was filed by the Center for Food Safety (CFS) and Center…