Source:  Rita Jane Gabbett, MEATINGPLACE.COM, 7/1/10

The House Appropriations subcommittee that funds USDA and FDA programs announced a fiscal 2011 funding bill that would stop funding USDA's voluntary National Animal Identification System (NAIS).

"We have spent over $147 million on this program since 2004. And six years later, we still have not seen a clear plan from USDA on successful implementation, even after they shifted to a more fragmented system in 2010," said Subcommittee Chairman Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) in a statement. USDA had asked for $14.2 million for the program.

"We do not feel it is a good use of resources to fund NAIS until the agency develops a clear plan for a mandatory system with measurable goals, long-term funding levels, and a plan for successful implementation," she added.

Overall, the subcommittee funded USDA at $20.26 billion, just $18.7 million less than the Obama administration had requested. It funded FDA at $2.57 billion, which was $55 million above the budget request.

The subcommittee cut $13 million from USDA's APHIS Avian Influenza Program compared to fiscal 2010.

FSIS funding

The bill fully funds the president's request at $1 billion for the Food Safety Inspection Service.

DeLauro noted the bill would establish a science-based panel to analyze the food safety system at FSIS and develop recommendations on how to modernize it.

To develop the panel process the subcommittee worked with a wide variety of stakeholders, including industry representatives from Cargill, Perdue, Sara Lee and Tyson Foods. Consumer-group stakeholders included representatives from the Center for Science in the Public Interest, Consumer Federation of America, Safe Tables Our Priority, and Food and Water Watch. Union interests were represented by the American Federation of Government Employees and the United Food and Commercial Workers.

Nutrition

Child nutrition programs, including the National School Lunch Program, were funded at $19 billion, on par with the administration's request. That funding included a $95 million increase over fiscal 2010 funding for nutrition research, outreach and education efforts to combat both hunger and obesity.

First lady Michelle Obama's Healthy Food Financing Initiative to supply more healthy food to underserved urban and rural communities was funded at $40 million.

Funding for the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative was increased by 19 percent from last year to $312 million.