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☆ Debt-Ceiling Deal Raises Age of Americans Who Must Work for Food Aid
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( Kristina Peterson | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WSJ’s David Harrison breaks down what to know about the debt-ceiling deal and its path through Congress. Photo illustration: Kaitlyn WangWASHINGTON—Some older adults would be required to work to get food aid under the federal debt-limit deal set for congressional votes this week, while others would be newly exempt from having to find a job, in one of the more controversial provisions of the compromise agreement.

Persons: WSJ’s David Harrison, Kaitlyn Wang WASHINGTON

☆ California Takes On Candy Makers With Bill Opponents Call the ‘Skittles Ban’
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Kristina Peterson | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/california-takes-on-candy-makers-48348194

☆ How School Meals Have Changed Over the Years
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Matthew Riva | Kristina Peterson | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

For the first time since President Harry Truman signed the National School Lunch Act in 1946, the Agriculture Department is proposing limiting added sugars in school breakfasts and lunches. Along with gradual salt reductions, the rules represent the latest move in a long back-and-forth by the federal government. Read on to see how students have eaten in the past. Jennava Laska/Getty

Persons: Harry Truman, Read, Jennava Laska, Getty Organizations: Agriculture Department

☆ What’s in the Debt-Ceiling Deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-28 | by ( David Harrison | Kristina Peterson | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ Got Chocolate Milk, Kids? Washington Might Take It Away in Schools
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Kristina Peterson | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ Chocolate Milk Faces Potential Ban in School Cafeterias
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Kristina Peterson | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ Officials Look to Tracking System to Help Prevent Baby-Formula Crises
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Kristina Peterson | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A nationwide baby-formula shortage had some desperate parents driving hours in search of supplies. Dr. Steven Abrams, a pediatrician at the University of Texas at Austin, explained what parents should and shouldn’t do amid the crisis. Photo illustration: Laura KammermannIn a bid to help prevent another infant-formula crisis, U.S. health officials are expected to vote next month on a change designed to better warn of any uptick in bacterial infections in babies. The action would add infections from cronobacter, the bacteria that sickened four babies and fueled last year’s shortage, to a list of roughly 120 nationally notifiable diseases. Federal officials believe that designation will more quickly alert them to possible outbreaks and gather more information, including genetic data, to help them better understand and prevent the infections.

Some have sought to toughen existing work requirements for food and cash assistance, as well as adding similar conditions to Medicaid eligibility. Photo: KEN CEDENO/REUTERSWASHINGTON—House Republicans are pushing to require more people seeking federal assistance to find jobs, thrusting a long-running debate over aid for poor Americans into the middle of a battle with Democrats over raising the debt limit. In legislation that passed the House on Wednesday with only GOP support, lawmakers moved to toughen existing work requirements for food and cash assistance, while proposing to add similar conditions to be eligible for Medicaid, a healthcare program for low-income and disabled people.

☆ The Battle Over Refrigerating Butter: ‘Enough Is Enough’
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Kristina Peterson | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ Salmonella in Breaded Raw Chicken Is Target of USDA Crackdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Kristina Peterson | Patrick Thomas | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The USDA’s move is part of a broader effort to contain salmonella, a cause of foodborne disease. Photo: NIH/Universal Images Group/Getty ImagesWASHINGTON—The Agriculture Department proposed new rules Tuesday aimed at minimizing salmonella outbreaks from some breaded chicken products, a move the industry said could significantly affect availability and price. Part of a broader effort to contain salmonella, the new proposal takes aim at breaded, stuffed raw chicken products, such as frozen chicken cordon bleu. Because these products are often prebrowned, consumers might mistakenly think they are cooked, leading to consumption of undercooked chicken, the USDA said.

Prospects for lab-grown meat to land on American dinner plates got a boost last fall when the Food and Drug Administration for the first time declared cultivated chicken, grown by Upside Foods, safe to eat. “It’s nearly time to eat cultivated meat,” Eric Schulze, Upside’s vice president of global scientific and regulatory affairs, said on Twitter as the company toasted the milestone with Champagne emojis. “Our Upside chicken is coming to consumers very soon.”

☆ Senate Votes to Overturn Biden Clean-Water Rule
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Kristina Peterson | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ USDA Proposes Expanding School Meal Programs in Low-Income Areas
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Kristina Peterson | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

School administrators have to balance different dynamics in deciding how to fund school meals. WASHINGTON—More schools would be eligible to offer free breakfast and lunch to students in low-income communities under a new proposal from the U.S. Agriculture Department. The USDA on Wednesday said it planned to lower the threshold of a program aimed at making it easier for schools and school districts in low-income areas to offer free meals to all students, without requiring their parents to apply for the benefits.

☆ FDA Hopes Revamp Will Help Prevent Baby-Formula, Food-Safety Problems
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Kristina Peterson | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON—A proposed reorganization of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration would help the agency anticipate and prevent some elements of the baby-formula recall and ensuing shortage that panicked parents of young children last year, the agency’s commissioner said in an interview. However, the highly consolidated market for infant formula could continue to pose problems if one of the handful of facilities making formula was to close again, Robert Califf said.

☆ Repeat of Baby-Formula Shortage Still Possible Under Revamped FDA
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Kristina Peterson | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON–A proposed reorganization of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration would help the agency anticipate and prevent some elements of the baby-formula recall and ensuing shortage that panicked parents of young children last year, the agency’s commissioner said in an interview. However, the highly consolidated market for infant formula could continue to pose problems if one of the handful of facilities making formula was to shutter again, Dr. Robert Califf said.

☆ Weak Oversight of Foreign Farmland Deals Sparks Concern Amid China Purchases
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Kristina Peterson | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Agriculture Department compiles data on foreigners’ holding of U.S. farmland into an annual report to Congress. WASHINGTON—A bipartisan group of lawmakers criticized the Agriculture Department Monday for lax oversight of U.S. farmland purchases by foreign buyers, an issue that has been spotlighted by rising concern over Chinese acquisitions. The 28 lawmakers, including House GOP Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik of New York and Rep. Mark Pocan (D., Wis.) expressed “deep concern” in a letter sent to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Thomas Vilsack Monday over the department’s decision not to assess any penalties between 2015 and 2018 over any lapses in reporting foreigners’ purchases of U.S. farmland. The penalties later resumed.

☆ Food Stamp Program in Political Crosshairs as Pandemic-Era Changes End
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-19 | by ( Kristina Peterson | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Food stamp spending is likely to decline in March, when 35 states and territories end an extra boost in benefits lawmakers established early in the pandemic. WASHINGTON—The ending of the Covid-19 public-health emergency means a reset for the country’s food stamps program, which aids more than 41 million Americans, as lawmakers weigh whether to make more far-reaching changes as part of the next farm bill. An extra boost in the food assistance for low-income households that Congress authorized at the start of the pandemic will wind down this month, and additional leeway afforded to states around some of the program’s rules will end in May.

☆ U.S. Begins Allowing Medicaid Money to Be Spent on Food
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-12 | by ( Stephanie Armour | Kristina Peterson | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON—The Biden administration has started approving state requests to use Medicaid to pay for groceries and nutritional counseling as policy makers explore whether “food as medicine” programs can lead to broad health benefits and trim costs. A growing body of research suggests that addressing food insecurity can improve health as well as deliver savings by reducing medical visits, the need for medication, or by helping control serious illness. The programs have also appealed to some GOP lawmakers who believe states should have more control over their Medicaid programs.

GRAND FORKS, N.D.—For more than two years, the mayor of this city near the Minnesota border backed a Chinese company’s plans to build a $700 million corn mill on the outskirts of town, citing the prospect of new jobs, added tax revenue and another place for farmers to sell their corn. Then last week Brandon Bochenski reversed course, hours after the release of a letter from an Air Force official declaring the corn-mill project a security risk because of its proximity to the Grand Forks Air Force Base 12 miles away.

☆ School Meals Would Have Less Salt, Sugar Under USDA Proposal
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Kristina Peterson | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

New proposed USDA guidelines would take aim added sugars typically found in processed foods as well as honey and sugar itself. WASHINGTON—Schools would be required to gradually limit the amount of sugar and salt in meals served to students, the Agriculture Department said Friday as part of proposed new school nutrition guidelines. In addition to the limits on added sugars and sodium, schools also would be required to emphasize serving products made with whole grains, over a multiyear transition period, the USDA said. Flavored milk, such as chocolate milk, would be allowed in certain circumstances.

☆ North Dakota Turns Against Chinese Corn Mill Project
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Kristina Peterson | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The mayor of Grand Forks, N.D., said he planned to block a planned Chinese-owned corn mill for the area. WASHINGTON—The mayor of Grand Forks N.D., said Tuesday he would move to halt development of a Chinese-owned corn mill there after an Air Force official called the project a national security risk because of its proximity to an Air Force base. “The Federal Government has requested the City’s help in stopping the Project as geo-political tensions have greatly increased since the initial announcement of the Project,” Grand Forks Mayor Brandon Bochenski said in a news release late Tuesday.

☆ FDA Proposes Overhaul in Wake of Baby Formula Shortage
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Kristina Peterson | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON—The head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration proposed consolidating the leadership of the food side of the agency Tuesday, in response to criticism of its slow response to the baby formula shortages and other food safety concerns. The plan unveiled by FDA Commissioner Robert Califf reorganizes the overlapping food divisions by putting a single deputy commissioner in charge of food policy and regulation within the agency.

☆ FDA Proposes Limits for Lead in Baby Food
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Kristina Peterson | Jesse Newman | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Food and Drug Administration’s new proposals for baby food could cut lead exposure by roughly 24% to 27% from the foods, the agency’s commissioner said. WASHINGTON—The U.S. Food and Drug Administration took new steps Tuesday aimed at reducing young children’s exposure to lead in baby food. The FDA issued a draft proposal limiting how much lead should be present in some processed baby foods typically eaten by children under 2 years old. Consumer groups and a congressional committee had raised concerns over the level of heavy metals found in some baby foods, alarming parents worried about the possible health effects.

The Treasury Department is expected to begin implementing extraordinary measures to manage the government’s cash flow through the spring. The federal government could run out of money to pay all its bills as soon as June, putting Congress on the clock to again raise or suspend the federal borrowing limit. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen recently said the government would hit the current $31.4 trillion borrowing limit Jan. 19, and the Treasury Department will begin implementing so-called extraordinary measures to manage the government’s cash flow through the spring.

WASHINGTON—House Republican infighting plunged Congress into disarray this week. The larger risk is that fractiousness could imperil some basic functions of government in the coming year. Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) may yet prevail in his quest to be speaker after losing 13 ballots this week, stymied by a small group of hard-line Republicans. But the struggle to pick a House leader, typically a perfunctory process, has previewed what could well be months of turmoil over spending issues in a narrowly divided House.

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