AFIS

Bitter cold weather experienced by several parts of the nation over the past two weeks that even included locales like a stretch of the Deep South where sub freezing temperatures and even snow are rare occurrences. In some cases, the power outages caused by these conditions served as a reminder in food safety...

With these cold temperatures, and snow in the forecast, you may need firewood for your fireplace or wood burning stove.  But the rule of thumb when gathering firewood when camping holds true during the colder months of the year....“Buy fire...

The USDA’s latest effort to get an idea of how far spread Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza is in the nation’s dairy herd is about a month old.  That is the second federal order involving milk testing for the H5N1 strain.  Alex Turner of USDA’s Animal and Plant Health inspection Service said the department’s effort includes 28 states enrolled since the start of the month, consisting of nearly 65%

Long-time USDA Chief Information Officer Gary Washington has been named the Acting Ag Secretary.  While the newly inaugurated Trump administration is waiting for Senate confirmation of its initial nominations for Cabinet and Cabinet-level officials, one of the first actions by the White House Monday was appointing temporary leaders in several departments.   ...

On Friday, the USDA confirmed the presence of highly pathogenic avian influenza in a backyard flock in Central Oregon.  This is the first confirmed case of HPAI in Crook County.  According to the Oregon Department of Agriculture, the Crook County backyard flock included approximately 70 birds, and was a mix consisting of several different species of poultry and domestic waterfowl.   USDA, in p...

USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service released new guidelines last week aimed at strengthening documentation in support of environmental or animal-raising labeling claims on meat and poultry products after a recent study found antibiotics in livestock raised for the no-antibiotics market...

The USDA marked National Ag Day Thursday by rolling out a new web-site aimed at young people.   "It is a platform to showcase the multitude of USDA youth programs. Each one of our agencies is doing some amazing youth programming and education work," said USDA's Youth Program Coordinator Tory Powell.  ...

"This is an attempt by USDA and AFIS to partner with state, local and industry officials to be able to advance protection of our important economic treasure in our livestock industry,” said Ag Undersecretary Greg Ibach referring to this week’s announcement of the latest efforts to advance animal disease traceability, particularly in the beef industry.   "W...