Source: Phil Kimball, MEATINGPLACE, 1/26/15



The House Agriculture Committee has released a lengthy list of issues that it and its subcommittees expect to oversee in the 114th Congress. Here are some topics related to the meat industry:  
Food safety:
• Review implementation of FDA’s Food Safety Modernization Act; 
• Review USDA’s administration of meat and poultry inspection laws and FDA’s food inspection activities; 
• Review USDA’s efforts to educate consumers regarding safe food handling practices; 
• Review implementation of new protocols for meat, poultry, eggs, or seafood safety inspection; 
• Review USDA’s enforcement of the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act and humane handling regulations; 
• Review the mechanisms to establish scientifically based international food safety standards;

Livestock marketing:
• Assess the effectiveness of the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) in determining market manipulation in the livestock industry; 
• Review USDA’s mandatory livestock price reporting system; 

Agriculture trade and international food aid:
• Review ongoing multilateral, regional, and bilateral trade negotiations (including World Trade Organization (WTO) accession agreements) to assess their potential effect on U.S. agriculture; 
• Monitor existing trade agreements to ensure trading partners are meeting obligations and enforcing trade commitments; 
• Review agricultural export programs to determine how well they are promoting the interests of U.S. agriculture and examine proposals to improve, modify or expand such programs; 
• Review sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) barriers and other technical barriers to U.S. agricultural exports and examine USDA efforts to eliminate such barriers; 

Animal and plant health:
• Review enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act; 
• Assess USDA’s Animal Disease Traceability Plan;

Energy:
• Review implementation of the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS); 
• Review renewable fuel programs and their effect on agriculture; 

Homeland and Agricultural Security:
• USDA’s preparedness against terrorist threats to agriculture production; 

Ag research and promotion:
• Review USDA’s efforts to expand research and development of pathogen reduction technologies; 
• Review administration of USDA's agricultural marketing and promotion programs; 
• Review the potential for research and technology transfer to address the needs of both the biofuels and livestock industries;

The committee said in general it “intends to identify programs that are inefficient, duplicative, outdated or more appropriately administered by state or local governments for possible cuts or elimination.”

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