Category Archives: USDA

Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration took important steps to advance the FDA’s regulatory process for intentional genomic alterations (IGAs) in animals. The updated guidance documents underscore the agency’s commitment to further modernize its approach to evaluating and supporting the development of innovative animal and veterinary products to increase regulatory flexibility, predictability and efficiency. In addition, the agency established a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to clarify roles and responsibilities for regulation of IGAs in animals.

Food animal veterinarians are critical to maintaining a healthy, secure, and safe food supply. Today, there is a critical shortage of food animal veterinarians in both private and public practice, particularly in rural communities in the U.S. and insular areas. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program (VMLRP) provides approximately $9 million per year in funding to help eligible veterinarians offset a significant portion of debt incurred in pursuit of their veterinary medical degrees in return for their service in certain high-priority veterinary shortage situations.

Today, by amending and strengthening its animal disease traceability regulations for certain cattle and bison, the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is putting in place the technology, tools, and processes to help quickly pinpoint and respond to costly foreign animal diseases.

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), is issuing this Federal Order to prevent the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). HPAI is a contagious viral disease of domestic poultry and wild birds. HPAI is deadly to domestic poultry and can wipe out entire flocks within a matter of days. HPAI is a threat to the poultry industry, animal health, human health, trade, and the economy worldwide. In the US, HPAI has now been detected in dairy cattle.

The USDA has unveiled a new, online Livestock Indemnity Program Decision Tool and farm loan resources available to agricultural producers and cooperators who help producers access USDA disaster assistance, farm loans and other federal farm programs. The new LIP tool and the farm loan informational video resources were developed in partnership with FarmRaise and USDA’s Farm Service Agency.

The Center for Veterinary Biologics (CVB) recently added CVB Notice 24-06: Availability of Genetic Sequence and Isolate to its website. This Notice is to furnish interested parties with the genomic sequence from the recent H5 clade 2.3.4.4b highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus.

In an effort to prevent domestic cattle from being exposed to highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAI, more specifically avian influenza Type A H5N1), 17 states have restricted cattle importations from states where the virus is known to have infected dairy cows: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah, and West Virginia. [As of the time this article was published.]

USDA issues alert to changes in the endorsement process for mail in international health certificate.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has created a higher-graded position for veterinarians in response to long-standing challenges in the federal veterinary workforce.

For the second year, the U.S Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is inviting partners to collaborate on the development of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) dashboards. These dashboards provide stakeholders with critical data to address AMR, a growing global health threat. APHIS will provide up to $3 million dollars for these efforts in 2024.