Sausage Recall & Walden On Clean Water Act

Sausage Recall & Walden On Clean Water Act plus Food Forethought. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report.

Oregon's U.S. Representative Greg Walden voiced his strong support for a bill to block a proposal by the Obama Administration to unilaterally increase their regulatory authority over the nation's waters.

WALDEN: "This proposed rule is based on faulty science and it underestimates the tremendous harm it poses to our rural economies. It is no wonder that people are concerned. At a town hall meeting I had in Grants Pass on Saturday morning, for three of the 30 people there, this was their number one issue. Their involved in real estate, and they are very upset and concerned about what this could do. This regulatory overreach by the EPA blatantly ignores Congress' repeated rejection of similar legislative efforts to expand jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act.

Interbay Food Company, LLC, of Woodinville, Wash., is recalling approximately 4,820 pounds of pork Banger-style sausage products due to misbranding and an undeclared allergen. The USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service say the products contain milk, a known allergen, which is not declared on the products' label. The products were cooked in a Redmond, Wash., restaurant and sold to the general public. The products were produced using bread crumbs that came from a vendor who listed wheat, soy and milk on the label. Although the label for the bangers listed wheat and soy, it did not list milk as an ingredient.

Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Lacy Gray.

Efforts to stop WOTUS, EPA's waters of the U.S. rule, continue on numerous levels around the country. Last week the U.S. House passed a bill to prevent implementation of the rule by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers. Of course the Obama Administration has said that if the bill makes it as far as the White House it would more than likely be shot down in flames by the President. The EPA continues to run its "Ditch the Myth" series on its website in an effort to clarify the proposed rule, while the majority of ag groups and leaders continue to push that the EPA should rework the rule in such a manner that it allows for individual state input and adhere to boundaries already set by Congress. One of the major fears from the ag community is that the rule as is would severely disrupt and even reverse the successful voluntary conservation efforts by farmers around the nation. The American Farm Bureau Federation has created its own on-line campaign called "Ditch the Rule". To find out more visit ditchtherule.fb.org.

Thanks Lacy. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.