The pandemic created a multitude of supply chain problems for the food industry and now that we are seeing a bright light at the end of the COVID-19 tunnel, the government and non-government sectors are asking what could we have done better and how can we be better prepared in the future? To address these questions, the White House announced last month the creation of a special supply-chain task force as well $4 billion in funding through the U.S. Department of Agriculture to strengthen and diversify the U.S. food distribution system.
The recent announcement supports the Biden administration’s broader work, as I have highlighted previously, which is to shore up the resilience of critical supply chains. Funding for this initiative will be provided by the American Rescue Plan Act and previously-announced pandemic assistance initiatives such as the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021. Biden also named USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack to head up the new Supply Chain Disruption Task Force. Vilsack said, “This initiative will make meaningful investments to build a food system that is more resilient against shocks, delivers greater value to growers and food industry workers.”
The major focus of the White House initiative will be on food production, food processing, food distribution and aggregation, and markets and consumers. As the project moves along, USDA will continue to make public announcements through its “Build Back Better” program initiative in the months to come.
Show Me The Beef
Is there trouble ahead for “fake” meat products? Like with any dramatic new food product, bumps in the road are often expected as state and federal regulators do their due diligence by reviewing, analyzing, and studying new technology. Well, the Wisconsin state legislature has enacted a new bill that prohibits plant-based and cultivated proteins from using the word “meat” on product packaging.
The bill states, “No person may label a food product as, or sell or offer for sale, a food product that is labeled as, any type of meat product or ‘meat’ unless the food product is derived from an edible part of the flesh of an animal or any part of an insect and does not include cultured animal tissue that is produced from animal cell cultures.”
The House passed the bill and at presstime it is before the state Senate. And not wanting to offend dairy farmers, the Wisconsin state legislature also passed bills banning the term “milk” from beverages not deriving from hoofed mammals, and from selling products as “cream,” “yogurt, or “cheese” unless they include animal-based dairy.
Wisconsin is not alone in this crusade as several other states are looking at similar bills regarding the labeling and marketing of imitation products.
SNAP Eligibility Rule Withdrawn
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has taken action to withdraw a previously proposed rule entitled “Revision of Categorical Eligibility in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.” The proposed rule, originally published a year ago, would have limited states’ ability to use participation in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) to determine eligibility for SNAP. The rule put restrictions on the type and amount of TANF benefits a household must receive to be considered eligible for SNAP benefits and increased the reporting requirements for states using this administrative option. If finalized, the rule would have cost $2.3 billion in administrative expenses over five years and more than 3.1 million individuals in 1.7 million households would have lost access to SNAP benefits.
It is quite apparent that when the government seeks out public comments on proposed rules they do indeed listen, as nearly 158,000 comments on the proposed SNAP rule were received! Many of the comments stated how the proposal could jeopardize food security for children, veterans, individuals with disabilities, and the elderly. USDA agreed and determined that the proposed rule should not be finalized. This is a win for the needy!
Show Me The Money
House of Representatives Appropriations Chair Rosa DeLauro and Representative Sanford Bishop, chairman of the Ag Appropriations Subcommittee, are pressing the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for answers on how the agency is spending hundreds of millions of dollars Congress allotted for food safety. According to Politico, DeLauro and Bishop note that FDA’s Office of Regulatory Affairs (ORA), the arm of FDA that does inspections and other field activities, receives about 70 percent of the money Congress appropriates for the food safety side of FDA. They want to know how the ORA is spending the money because it appears food safety activities have been dwindling, a trend that started before the pandemic, and DeLauro and Bishop, two of the lawmakers who hold FDA’s purse strings, want to know why.
The inquiry comes after top FDA officials recently floated scaling back the agency’s inspection mandate under the landmark Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), which includes a requirement to inspect all high-risk food facilities at least once every three years and other food facilities at least once every five years. Top consumer agency watchdogs will be aggressively looking for answers! Mike Taylor, former deputy commissioner for food initiatives at FDA, where he was the driving force behind FSMA, said, “The domestic facility inspection mandate was a crucial part of the legislative agreement that made FSMA possible and provides a crucial measure of accountability for FDA and the food industry, as well as an assurance to consumers that at least some minimum level inspection will occur.” Expect more questions and answers to be forthcoming. DeLauro is not someone to back away from a food fight!
USDA Inflation Expectations For 2021
Inflation in food prices overall is expected to be between 2 and 3 percent for calendar 2021, according to the latest Food Price Outlook report that crossed my desk from USDA’s Economic Research Services.
Much of the inflationary pressure is expected to come from reopening restaurants, hotels, and institutions. Price increases for food consumed away from home are expected to land between 2.5 and 3.5 percent for the year according to Meatingplace News. For the larger category of food consumed at home, the projection is for supermarket prices to rise between 1.5 and 2.5 percent in 2021.
Packaging Fees Coming?
Finding ways to pay for recycling and environmental clean-up tasks is a never-ending process, primarily for states but the feds are always looking at environmental issues too. Now the state of Maine may become the first state to charge companies for the cost of recycling. Maine lawmakers are voting on legislation that would create a fee on bottles, boxes, food wrappers and other forms of packaging to fund waste programs, a concept mentioned in a recent issue of Politico News that is known as “extended producer responsibility.” As usual, whether the Maine initiative passes or not, you can rest assured that other states will explore similar legislation. Currently New York is expected to consider a packaging tax next year after earlier efforts failed. Same for Washington state. It sounds simple: lawmakers calculate a fee structure on packaging and the revenue generated reimburses local and state governments for recycling expenses, waste hauling and land-fill expenses. Who pays in the end? The consumer.
Daylight Saving Time Year ‘Round
Another issue being debated in a few states and in Congress at this time is making Daylight Saving Time permanent. Yes – it has been around the block for debate previously, but currently this is one of those few issues that is getting more and more bipartisan support on the Hill. At this time, there are 16 states actively considering the measure but legally, they will need to get Congress’ approval first. It could happen.
More Weird Things
Now that the cicadas are gone, what can we expect as a lot has changed in the FDA regulatory fiefdom since the last time cicadas appeared in our central eastern seaboard states in 2004? By 2038 will consumers and pets be eagerly anticipating a rare vintage of Brood X-based FDA-approved food products? Do not bet against it. This was the first time in 17 years since the cicadas last appeared that the news media in many states published a lot of cicada recipes in the food sections of daily newspapers and even the TV weathermen were eating prepared, fully-cooked cicadas on their live weather reports. Seriously, folks! Yuck! The next phase of the 17-year cicada invasion is now in process as the hatching of nymphs from trillions of eggs laid in trees occurs over the next few weeks.
Barry Scher is associated with the public policy firm of Policy Solutions LLC and may be reached at Bscher@policy-solutions.net
