Source: Susan Kelly, MEATINGPLACE, 9/8/17


Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced the realignment of a number of USDA offices to improve efficiency, including merging the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) into the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS).

GIPSA and AMS currently both carry out grading activities and work to ensure fair trade practices. Specific to fair trade practice work, the new structure will contain a program area composed of the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act Program and the Packers and Stockyards Program, as well as some other regulatory activities AMS is currently directed to carry out, USDA said.

The International Food Commodity Procurement program currently in the Farm Service Agency (FSA) will merge into the domestic Commodity Food Procurement program in AMS. The action will consolidate commodity procurement activities across USDA, the agency said.

The Codex Alimentarius program (U.S. Codex Office), currently housed in the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), will be moved to the newly created Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs (TFAA) mission area. The U.S. Codex Office is an interagency partnership that engages stakeholders in the development of international governmental and non-governmental food standards.

The restructuring comes with the intention of handling any staffing changes through attrition or reassignment, Perdue said.

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