Year ago

I earlier noted the one-year anniversary of this blog, and the archive function of the blog allows me to go back to Dec. 4, 2006, and see that I wrote this then:

The USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service is coming out with a proposed rule that would hike terminal market inspection fees by 15% in 2007 and again in 2008. This is being presented as inevitable but it may be worth a closer look. Under the Freedom of Information Act, I have requested data from the USDA on the number of inspections the Fresh Products Branch has performed in the last five years. Developing...

TK: Of course, those increases eventually did become law, but there remain plenty of questions about the impact of rising fees on the number of inspections performed, not to mention the long term cash flow for the inspection service. Last week, I called AMS and requested inspection numbers for fiscal year 2007. Also bearing closer examination is how food safety-related inspections under AMS authority may grow in importance during coming years with the likely development of federal marketing orders/agreements oriented to food safety.