A comprehensive summary of today’s judicial, legislative, and regulatory developments in agriculture and food. Email important additions HERE.
REGULATORY: Includes APHIS, FCA, FWS, FDA and NOAA
ANIMAL AND PLANT HEALTH INSPECTION SERVICE
Notice APHIS is reopening the comment period for our notice of receipt of a petition from Zoetis, Inc. requesting approval for the manufacture within the continental United States of a vaccine derived from a leaderless strain of the foot-and-mouth disease virus. Info here.
FARM CREDIT ADMINISTRATION
Final rule; correction On September 28, 2020, the Farm Credit Administration published a final rule that repealed the regulatory requirement that production credit associations amortize their loans in 15 years or less, while requiring all Farm Credit System associations to address amortization through their credit underwriting standards and internal controls. In that publication, FCA inadvertently omitted a statement that the Office of Management and Budget’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs determined that the final rule is not a major rule under the applicable provisions of the Congressional Review Act. Info here.
FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE
Proposed rule to list whitebark pine, a high-elevation tree species found across western North America, as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. Info here.
FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION
Notice soliciting comments on the information collection provisions of our infant formula regulations, including infant formula labeling, quality control procedures, notification requirements, and recordkeeping. The notice also invites comment on electronic Form FDA 3978 that allows manufacturers of infant formula to submit reports and notifications in a standardized format. Info here.
Notice that the Bumble Bee Seafoods Inc.’s temporary permit has been amended to market test canned skinless and boneless chunk salmon packed in water that contains sodium tripolyphosphate to inhibit protein curd formation during retorting. Info here.
NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION
Temporary rule reallocating the projected unused amounts of Pacific cod total allowable catch from catcher/processors using hook-and-line gear, catcher vessels less than 50 feet using hook-and-line gear, catcher vessels greater than or equal to 50 feet using hook-and-line gear, and vessels using pot gear to catcher vessels using trawl gear and catcher/processors using trawl gear in the Central Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska. Info here.
Correction for a published document in the Federal Register of November 23, 2020, announcing a valid specified fishing agreement that allocates up to 1,000 metric tons of the 2020 bigeye tuna limit for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands to U.S. longline fishing vessels. The document incorrectly referred to American Samoa. Info here.