The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced an April 9, 2019, public meeting to receive comments on the United States’ positions for the Codex Committee on Food Labelling meeting to be held in Canada in May 2019.

Among the announced topics are (i) “Proposed draft Guidance for the Labelling of Non-Retail Containers”;

(ii) “Proposed draft Guidelines of Front-of-Pack Nutrition Labelling”;

(iii) “Innovation—use of technology in food labelling”;

(iv) “Labelling of alcoholic beverages”; and

(v) “Criteria for the definition of ‘high in’ nutritional descriptors for fats, sugars, and sodium.”

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday (March 27) appeared divided along ideological lines about a long-standing legal precedent that calls on courts to defer to a federal agency's interpretation of its own regulation.

Read more from Bloomberg .

The Trump Administration has named Dr. Norman “Ned” Sharpless, now head of the National Cancer Institute, as acting commissioner to replace Scott Gottlieb, who has announced his intention to resign recently.

Read more.

Recently USDA hosted a webinar listening session to solicit initial input about the development of regulations regarding the production of hemp.

The purpose of the listening session was for USDA to receive public input that the agency can factor into discretionary decisions that need to be made to implement the specific provision of the 2018 Farm Bill.

Read a review of what transpired during the session and view a recording of the webinar

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation’s Intermodal Subcommittee (a part of WisDOT’s Freight Advisory Committee) was created to “[i]dentify current and future opportunities and challenges to connect Wisconsin industries to world markets through the increased efficiency of containerized shipping.”

 

After a year of work, the Subcommittee’s report has been released. You can view the whole report here .

The report indicated that there are large volumes of international containers arriving in Southeastern and Southwestern Wisconsin. If those containers could be reloaded with Wisconsin-originating exports, there could be significant potential to increase the number of intermodal facilities in the state.

Ocean Spray - Our newest processor member, Ocean Spray is a vibrant agricultural cooperative owned by more than 700 cranberry growers in the United States, Canada and Chile. Formed in 1930, Ocean Spray is now the world’s leading producer of cranberry juices, juice drinks and dried cranberries and is the best-selling brand in the North American bottled juice category.

Hoosier Logistics - Our newest associate member, Hoosier Logistics a full service asset based logistics provider headquartered in Indianapolis, IN. It provides temperature control and dry transportation services throughout the country. Its service offerings include full service supply chain management, warehousing, single shipments – and everything you need in between.

Just a friendly reminder to remit your 2019 membership dues. Invoices were sent out in November and were due the first week in January. 

Don't miss out on all of the exciting MWFPA events coming up this year! Thanks to all of you who have sent in your payment. We look forward to working with you. If you have any questions, or would like to discuss your membership, please contact Jane Algiers at 608.255.9946 or [email protected]

The Carleton A. Friday Scholarship and

Kenneth G. Weckel Scholarship programs

offer up to three $1,500 scholarships (total of six) to deserving undergraduate students who are majoring in agriculture or food science within the University of Wisconsin system (currently Madison, Platteville and River Falls).

Each student needs to complete only one application and required financial forms to apply for both the Carleton A. Friday and Kenneth G. Weckel scholarships.

The deadline for submission of applications is April 26, 2019.

For more information and to download an application, click here .