Yearly Archives: 2012

A coalition of 30 Congressmen wrote last week to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack asking what steps USDA has taken to correct the public record and educate consumers about the safety of lean finely-textured beef (LFTB).

”We believe that USDA is in a unique position to help bring to
light the facts about LFTB. We understand that Congress, too,
can play a role,” the Congressmen coalition stated in its letter.
”How can Congress and the USDA work together to stop the campaign of misinformation about LFTB?”

The European Union’s executive said on Wednesday it did not intend to impose any paricular measures on imports from the United States following the discovery of the country’s first case of mad cow disease or BSE in six years. ”The (European) Commission is satsfied that the new BSE case has been confirmed in the framework of the ongoing
BSE surveillance system in the United States, which prevented
this animal from entering the food chain,” EU Commission
health spokesman Frederic Vincent said in a statement, referring
to bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease.

—Reuters, 4/25/2012

John Maday
Managing Editor, Drovers CattleNetwork
Updated: April 12, 2012

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday issued a new guidance on the use of antibiotics in livestock production, drawing mixed responses from livestock organizations and groups opposed to antibiotics in agriculture.

The final Guidance 209 calls for […]

By ANDY VANCE
Issue Date: March 26, 2012 | Issue 13 | Volume 84

– Corn Belt temperatures mostly “much above normal.”
– Third of Texas corn planted; 12% of Kansas wheat jointed.
– Early planting could affect crop insurance.

CALLING it the fourth warmest winter on record for the contiguous 48 states, the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released a report earlier this month detailing much-warmer-than-average temperatures for the preceding three months, […]