China continues to insist that tariffs be lifted as part of any Phase One US-China trade deal. Meanwhile, USDA is expected to announce a general signup for the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) said food prices rose to their highest level in two years in November and an outbreak of E. coli in romaine lettuce continues to grow.

Russia has halted imports from several South American beef suppliers, claiming that some shipments were contaminated with antibiotic residues while others had traces of the controversial feed additive, ractopamine.

A new goal of reducing company supply chain greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 30% per ton of product by 2030 compared to 2017 levels, was announced by Cargill as part of its efforts to combat climate change Tuesday (Dec. 3).

Authorities in Canada have cancelled the licences of three meat producers caught up in an E.coli scare earlier this year.

The dairy and cattle industries are predicted to collapse by 2030 as animal meat is replaced by cheaper, good quality food made from precision fermentation protein, Informa’s Food Ingredients Europe conference in Paris, France heard today (December 2^nd).

Links between poor animal welfare and the spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) have been highlighted by a campaign group, which says it found that 80% of the bacteria isolated from pork sold in US Walmart stores were resistant to at least one antibiotic.

Final terms of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) could be completed this week, paving the way for a House vote on the deal, according to the top Mexican trade negotiator. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump reimposed Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs on Argentina and Brazil and Hormel cited African swine fever (ASF) as a major risk factor for the company in 2020.

The new European Commission under President Ursula von der Leyen will start work today (December 2) on fleshing out policies that will shape the EU food and agriculture sector for the next five years.

Vytenis Andriukaitis, the EU Health and Food Safety Commissioner since November 2014 mounted a robust defence of strict science-based policy-making in an exclusive interview with IEG Policy in which the Lithuanian politician discussed genetically modified organisms, health claims and nutritional labelling. Sara Lewis interviewed Vytenis Andriukaitis in the dying days of his tenure as EU Health and Food Safety Commissioner