Dairy Issues in the News

Inspection and Grading of Manufactured or Processed Dairy Products - Recordkeeping Requirements - The USDA Agricultural Marketing Services' (AMS) Seeks Public Comments by December 6 on Extension of an Existing Information Collection Request, Titled: "Regulations Governing the Inspection and Grading of Manufactured or Processed Dairy Products—Record Keeping (Subpart B)," OMB Number: 0581–0110, which expires on April 30, 2003 - In seeking public comments on the ICR, AMS states: " ... The Agricultural Marketing Act (AMA) ... directs the Department to develop programs which will provide for and facilitate the marketing of agricultural products. One of these programs is the USDA voluntary inspection and grading program for dairy products (7 CFR part 58) where these dairy products are graded according to U.S. grade standards by a USDA grader. The dairy products under the dairy program may be identified with the USDA grade mark. Dairy processors, buyers, retailers, institutional users, and consumers have requested that such a program be developed to assure the uniform quality of dairy products purchased. In order for any service program to perform satisfactorily, there are regulations for the provider and user. For these reasons, the dairy inspection and grading program regulations were developed and issued under the authority of the Act. These regulations are essential to administer the program to meet the needs of the user and to carry out the purposes of the Act. The information collection requirements in this request are essential to carry out the intent of the AMA to ensure that dairy products are produced under sanitary conditions and that buyers are purchasing a quality product. In order for the Regulations Governing the Inspection and Grading of Manufactured or Processed Dairy Products to serve the government, industry, and the consumer, laboratory test results must be recorded. Respondents are not required to submit information to the agency. The records are to be evaluated by a USDA inspector at the time of an inspection. These records include quality tests of each producer, plant records of required tests and analysis, and starter and cheese make records. As an offsetting benefit, the records required by USDA are also records that are routinely used by the inspected facility for their own supervisory and quality control purposes ..." - USDA AMS Contact: Susan M. Sausville, Dairy Programs, Dairy Standardization Branch at 202 720 2643; fax: 202 720 2643; e-mail: Susan.Sausville@USDA.gov - USDA AMS October 7 Federal Register: http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=2002_register&docid=02-25431-filed

BIOTECHNOLOGY

Ag Biotech Grains to be Milled by the South African Government, prior to being distributed to other African Nations, according to an October 7 Reuters Environmental News Report, which states: " ... South Africa offered last week to mill 600,000 tonnes of genetically modified grains sitting at its ports while hunger-stricken countries in the region decide whether or not to accept the gene-altered foods. Regional leaders said in a communique at the end of a two-day annual summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) that they had allowed individual countries to make the choice of accepting or rejecting GM food aid. 'Summit welcomed with gratitude an offer of 100,000 tonnes of maize by South Africa to be distributed through the World Food Programme and the milling at its own cost of 600,000 tonnes of GMO maize currently stored at South African ports,' the communique said ..." - Reuters October 7, 2002 Reuters Environmental News Report at http://www.planetark.org/avantgo/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=18066

Reasons for the Lack of Acceptance of Ag Biotech Crops in Developing Countries - An October 2002 report, titled: "Explaining restricted approval and availability of GM crops in developing countries" is posted on the AgBiotechNet www site - The abstract of the report states: " ... Agricultural food and feed crops improved through recombinant DNA are grown widely on farms in wealthy countries such as the USA and Canada, but are scarcely grown anywhere in the poor developing world ... The most powerful explanation proves to be a growing commercial fear of lost export sales to Europe and East Asia ... Consumer misgivings toward GM foods in these rich importing countries, coupled with restrictive or stigmatising import and labelling policies, are prompting food exporting countries in the developing world to remain GM-free. The long-term costs of these decisions for food security in poor countries could be substantial ..." - The complete report is posted at http://www.agbiotechnet.com/reviews/oct02/html/abn097.htm - Questions and reprint requests may be directed to one of the authors, Robert Paarlberg at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts by e-mail at RPaarlberg@Wellesley.edu

A Report, titled: "Benefits and Risks of Food Biotechnology" was released in June by the California Council on Science and Technology - The report focuses on California Issues and Concerns, but addresses the topic broadly - The Full Report is posted at http://www.ccst.ucr.edu/gmf/FoodBiotech.pdf and the Executive Summary is posted at http://www.ccst.ucr.edu/gmf/FB_ExecSum.pdf - Information on how the report was funded and developed is posted at http://www.ccst.ucr.edu/gmf/gmf01.html - The report is composed of the following sections: Biotechnology Overview, Product Applications, Consumer Response, by Christine Bruhn, UCD; Safety of Foods Derived from Spliced- DNA Foods by George Bruening, UCD; Transgenic Crop Plants and the Environment: Benefits and Risks by Subray Hegde and Norman Ellstrand, UCR; Spliced-DNA Crops in California by George Bruening, UCD; Federal Regulation and Policy on Transgenic Plants by John Vanderveen, FDA, Retired; State Regulations by Dave Luscher and John Steggall, CDFA; Science versus Presumption in Assessing Risk by Henry Miller and Gregory Conko, Stanford; Biotechnology and Intellectual Property by Brian Wright, UCB; A Guide to National and International Scientific Reports by Tamara Schiopu and Seymour Van Gundy, UCR; with several appendicies.

A Conference on the Topic, "When Media, Science and Public Policy Collide: The Case of Food and Biotechnology," sponsored by the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology and a unit of Harvard University, will be held on November 21 in Cambridge, Massachusetts - The intent of the conference is to " ... engage the stakeholders of this debate in a discussion of how media coverage has influenced and been influenced by science, industry, policymakers and advocacy groups on the topic of agriculture biotechnology and food and human health ..." - Details are posted at http://pewagbiotech.org/events/1121/

AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH

The USDA 2003 Agricultural Outlook Forum will be held February 20 - 21 in Arlington, Virginia - The program will feature government and industry speakers, topical issues shaping the outlook for agriculture, and in-depth analysis of the farm and commodity outlook for the year ahead - To have your name added to the e-mail distribution list for program details, send an e-mail message to USDA-AGFORUM@newsbox.usda.gov or visit the following USDA www site: http://www.usda.gov/oce/waob/agforum.htm

Agricultural Research should be an important component of the overall US Science and Technology program, according to testimony presented on September 30, by the Coalition on Funding Agricultural Research Missions (CoFARM), before the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) - The Council has sent a report and letter to President Bush on issues regarding federal investments in science and technology in the formulation of the FY 2004 budget. CoFARM Chair, Karl M. Glasener, expressed concern that the heavy focus on the physical sciences and engineering in the PCAST letter would result in other disciplines that have not shared in NIH's wealth being unjustifiably ignored. He cited the National Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program (NRI) as an example of just such an oversight. From 1992 to 2002, the NRI has seen a 6% decrease in funding in constant dollars. Moreover, since the inception of the NRI in 1991, funding for this competitive grants program has reached barely one-fifth of its $500 million authorization. Glasener also recommended that PCAST " ... Offer all disciplines including the plant and animal sciences, food technology, microbiology, nutrition, rural sociology, and economics the opportunity to provide input to the PCAST panel ..." the next time the Council seeks testimony from the public and private sector concerning funding needs for research and development ..." - The complete CoFARM statement is posted athttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/cofarm/files/CoFARM%20Testimony/020930PCASTTestimony.doc - Information about CoFARM is posted at http://www.asa-cssa-sssa.org/cofarm/ - Information about PCAST is posted at http://www.ostp.gov/PCAST/pcast.html - Glasener may be reached at the American Association of Agronomy at 202 408 5382; e-mail: KarlGlasener@cs.com

GLOBAL ISSUES

Ag Biotech Research in Developing Countries - The UN Food and Agriculture Organization will initiate in November a Four Week Electronic Forum, an e-mail conference, on: "What should be the role and focus of biotechnology in the agricultural research agendas of developing countries?" - The conference is organized by the FAO Working Group on Biotechnology and is the second to be held this year (the first was held in June on the theme of GMOs and gene flow) - FAO notes that the " ... outcome of the conference will be used for the upcoming FAO publication, The State of Food and Agriculture 2003. A Background Document will be provided to Forum Members before the conference. All messages posted during the conference will be placed on the Forum website at http://www.fao.org/biotech/forum.asp ... To join the Forum and to participate in the conference ... send an e-mail to mailserv@mailserv.fao.org leaving the subject blank and entering only the following two-line text message: subscribe biotech-room4 …” - Questions may be directed by e-mail to the moderator of the conference at biotech-mod4@fao.org