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USDA withdraws proposed rule meant to reduce Salmonella in poultry products
By Shannon Kelleher
Federal regulators on Thursday withdrew a proposed framework for raw poultry products that was introduced under the Biden administration to reduce the spread of Salmonella bacteria, one of the leading pathogens involved in foodborne illness outbreaks.
The rule, proposed by the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) under the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) in August 2024, would have declared chicken and turkey products spoiled if they contained 10 or more colony-forming units of the bacteria and if they were contaminated with Salmonella strains that are considered particularly concerning for human health.
“The Biden-era proposal would have imposed significant financial and operational burdens on American businesses and consumers, failing to consider an effective and achievable approach to address Salmonella in poultry products,” said a USDA spokesperson.
FSIS will work to assess its approach to addressing Salmonella in poultry products in ways that won’t “impose regulatory burdens on American producers and consumers,” said the spokesperson, including by evaluating whether an update to the current Salmonella standards is warranted.
The announcement comes after some US lawmakers introduced a bill earlier this year aimed at preventing the USDA from implementing the framework. The move to axe the proposed rule also comes on the heels of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s announcement last month to delay by 30 months the implementation of a rule designed to help the agency quickly find contaminated foods and remove them from the supply chain.
The Trump administration also recently terminated two USDA food safety advisory committees, including one that was researching how to better predict and control foodborne pathogens, including Salmonella.
$9 trillion in heat damages traced to 5 fossil fuel giants, study finds
By Dana Drugmand
Carbon dioxide and methane emissions from the world’s biggest fossil fuel producers have likely caused trillions of dollars in economic damages due to intensifying heatwaves over the last 30 years, according to new peer-reviewed research.
The top five emitters – Saudi Aramco (Saudi Arabia), Gazprom (Russia), Chevron (US), ExxonMobil (US), and BP (British), respectively – are responsible for about $9 trillion in heat-related damages, according to the study, published Wednesday in the journal Nature.
The analysis is the first to tie economic losses from extreme heat to emissions from individual fossil fuel companies, according to the study, and could bolster climate change-focused litigation against polluters.
“This work helps build the foundation for holding those who contributed most to climate harm accountable for its consequences,” said Delta Merner, lead scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists’ Science Hub for Climate Litigation, who was not involved in this study.
The study calculates global economic losses due to extreme heat stemming from the emissions of over 100 of the largest fossil fuel and cement producers, known as the carbon majors, between 1991 and 2020, concluding that the global economy would be $28 trillion – roughly the annual total U.S. GDP – richer without the carbon majors’ greenhouse gas emissions.
The study estimates that global economic losses from intensifying heat attributable to each of these five carbon majors ranged from $1.45 trillion to over $2 trillion.
FDA moves to phase out petroleum-based food dyes
By Brian Bienkowski
Federal health officials announced plans Tuesday to phase out synthetic food dyes made from petroleum, marking a significant shift in how the U.S. regulates chemical additives in food.
Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Marty Makary, along with other Trump administration officials, announced a series of moves to rid the American food supply of the dyes, including revoking authorization for two food dyes (Citrus Red No. 2 and Orange B), working with industry to eliminate six other synthetic dyes by the end of next year and authorizing four new natural color additives in coming weeks.
The agencies will also work with the National Institutes of Health to research how food additives impact children.
“For the last 50 years, we have been running one of the largest uncontrolled scientific experiments in the world on our nation’s children, without their consent,” Makary said at a Tuesday press conference, flanked by children holding signs that read ‘Make America Healthy Again’ and ‘Better Food, Brighter Futures’.
“And today we’re removing these petroleum-based chemicals from their food supply,” Makary added.
The dyes are commonly found in candy, sodas, cereals, sports drinks and other highly processed foods, but also show up in unexpected items like casserole mixes, yogurts and salad dressings. The dyes are linked to health problems including hyperactivity and behavioral problems in children. Health advocates have long argued that the bright food colorings also make unhealthy foods more attractive to children.
This is “not a silver bullet that will make American children healthy, but is one important step,” Makary said.
Over 50 million Americans lack access to federal air quality data, study reveals
By Shannon Kelleher
More than half of US counties lack a single federally monitored station for keeping tabs on air quality, meaning more than 50 million Americans (about 15% of the population) live in “air quality monitoring deserts” that lack crucial data for protecting people from harmful pollutants, according to new research.
The findings come as environmental and public health advocates grow increasingly concerned about how recent Trump administration actions will impact air quality and the availability of data and resources for monitoring it.
The study, published April 21 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, used September 2024 data from a US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) directory to pinpoint gaps in air quality monitoring, finding that rural counties and those more heavily populated by minorities were less likely to have monitoring stations.
Air quality monitoring deserts, meaning those without a single monitoring station in the EPA’s database, are “highly concentrated” in the Midwest and the South, the study found. In states with higher populations and more urban areas, including California and Massachusetts, less than 20% of counties lacked monitoring stations, while in more rural states, including Arkansas and South Dakota, about 80% of counties or more lacked monitoring.
In some cases, state and local governments conduct their own air quality monitoring in the absence of federal coverage, which may not necessarily collaborate with the EPA’s monitoring program, according to the study.
“Current gaps in air quality monitoring in the United States have profound implications for communities, research, policy, and climate action,” the authors write. “Based on our findings, there is a need to reevaluate current air quality monitoring strategies and infrastructure.”