Agribusiness Update for Thursday 12/24/15

USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service will no longer enforce country-of-origin labeling requirements for beef and pork, but it is also developing guidance for companies that may wish to make "geographic claims." An FSIS memo to inspection personnel this week said "FSIS is developing guidance for federally inspected establishments related to geographic claims they may wish to make on beef and pork muscle cuts and ground products with the COOL regulations no longer being enforced." The memo comes after the omnibus spending bill that included a repeal of COOL was signed on Friday.

Nestlé, the world's largest food company, announced that it will transition to using eggs only from cage-free chickens in all of its U.S. food products by 2020. The company uses approximately 20 million pounds of eggs a year. Chairman and CEO Paul Grimwood said that "Our products are in the fridges and pantries of socially-conscious consumers across the United States, and we share their belief in the importance of responsibly-sourced ingredients." He noted that the move to using exclusively cage-free eggs builds on Nestlé's commitment on farm animal welfare.

That's today's Agribusiness Update from the Ag Information Network of the West.