Author Michael Pollan thinks you should be able to shake the hand that feeds you. And by that he means the farmer, not the restaurant owner.

USDA appears to be pushing ahead with a controversial proposal to modify its poultry slaughter inspection program despite a troubling report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

The cattle industry is moving away from a feed additive linked to animal lethargy, lameness, and even becoming too heavy to walk. The drug Zilmax is a beta-agonist, which promotes muscle growth; it is used...

Congress tasked the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) with implementing the country’s National Organic Program (NOP). For more than a decade now, the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), the advisory committee of the NOP...

Shuanghui International, a Chinese meat processing company, has agreed to purchase U.S.-based Smithfield Foods, a development that raises numerous concerns. Sale of the world’s largest pork producer to a company that is heavily subsidized by...

The USDA Office of Inspector General (OIG) has released an audit of inspection and enforcement activities at pig slaughter plants. The May 2013 audit found that inspectors for the Food Safety and Inspection Services (FSIS)...

The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), a USDA agency, is amending its Animal Handling and Welfare (AHW) requirements for companies that supply meat from cattle, pigs, and sheep to the national school lunch program.

In response to the Hallmark-Westland slaughter plant exposé, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) within the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) assessed what had transpired at Hallmark, if it could have been prevented, and...

Following a year-long application process, AWI’s Animal Welfare Approved (AWA) program was audited for compliance with the International Organization for Standardization’s “ISO 65” standards earlier this year by the International Organic Accreditation Service—the leading independent...

Despite strong public opposition, and no documented demand, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) appears to be drawing closer to approving the first food product from a genetically engineered (GE) animal.