Agriculture Spending Bill Would Keep Catfish Inspections at USDA
The House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee on June 28 approved fiscal year 2018 spending legislation (here) that rejects a Trump administration request to retransfer catfish inspection responsibilities from the Food Safety and Inspection Service to the Food and Drug Administration. The bill would also set guidelines for the Agriculture Department in finalizing an agreement to admit Chinese chicken imports into the U.S. USDA’s May budget request proposed to transfer catfish inspection responsibilities back to the FDA in FY18, and zeroed out funding for the FSIS Siluriformes Inspection Program (see 1705250030). Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., praised the bill’s omission of language directing any transfer of those responsibilities, noting that USDA “does continuous inspection, rather than just the two percent that’s inspected by” FDA.
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In finalizing a proposed rule to allow Chinese chicken imports into the U.S. (see 1706160035), USDA would have to ensure that poultry plants where the imports originate maintain public health protections equivalent to U.S. poultry plants, and do periodic verification reviews and audits of such Chinese plants, re-inspection at U.S. ports of entry to check the poultry’s general condition, proper certification and labeling, and transportation damage, and additional post-entry re-inspection. The bill also includes language proposed by DeLauro to prohibit the use of Chinese chicken in federal school lunch programs. The legislation would fund the newly created USDA Office of the Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs at $875,000 in FY18.
While House Appropriations Committee Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-N.J., and subcommittee ranking member Sanford Bishop, D-Ga., expressed preliminary support the bill, full committee ranking member Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., was more critical. She opposed the language to govern e-cigarettes in the bill, calling it a “cynical attempt” to deregulate tobacco products. Notably, the bill would require the Department of Health and Human Services, which includes FDA, to within one year of enactment promulgate final regulations requiring that vapor product labeling contains an accurate statement of the product’s nicotine content and the phrases “Keep Out of Reach of Children” and “Underage Sale Prohibited.”
The legislation would also require within 21 months of enactment that HHS issue a notice of proposed rulemaking, to be finalized after 36 months, to establish a product standard for vapor products -- to include “characterizing flavors” and batteries -- pursuant to Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act Section 907, which outlines tobacco product standards. Advertising of a vapor product disseminated by a manufacturer, distributor or retailer in a newspaper, magazine or periodical would cause the product to be “deemed misbranded,” unless the ad runs in an “adult publication,” according to the law. The bill would require face-to-face sales of vapor products, except for mail orders or vending machines or self-service machines, so long as the retailer ensures that no one entering the facility housing the machines is under age 18.