Issue Briefs
- Biopharmaceuticals: Plant-made pharmaceuticals and industrial products are not intended for food and feed use and, therefore, do not require government approvals. NAMA advocates greater compliance and enforcement of rules intended to keep unapproved biotechnology products out of the food supply.
- Biotechnology: NAMA supports biotechnology that has obtained major market approval. NAMA also supports a U.S. government biotechnology policy on adventitious presence in the U.S. food supply.
- Conservation Reserve Program (CRP): Congress has capped the program at 39.4 million acres, however, continued expansion of the CRP will hamper U.S. agriculture's ability to produce and compete in global markets.
- 2007 Farm Bill: Sharp declines in the production of wheat and especially oats in the last few years have left millers concerned about their long-term ability to source adequate quantities of milling-quality grain. U.S. oat production is at the lowest level in history and as a result, nearly all the oats consumed in the U.S. must be imported.
- Food Aid Principals
- Expand food aid programs and provide consistent funding.
- Combat HIV and AIDS with nutrition programs.
- Expand food for education programs in developing countries.
- Defend in-kind food aid programs in the WTO.
- Food Defense: NAMA members are prepared for FDA’s deadlines for companies to establish recordkeeping mechanisms that will assist FDA in tracing food through the U.S. supply chain when there is a reasonable belief that food presents a threat of serious adverse health consequences or death to humans or animals. NAMA also continues to participate in sector wide efforts to share information between government and industry on issues related to food defense.
- Food safety standards:
NAMA supports The National Uniformity for Food Act which sets uniform national food safety standards and warning requirements that provide all Americans the same high level of confidence and protection. The bill ensures consumers have access to identical, accurate, and science-based food safety information regardless of where they live.
- Gluten-Free Labeling: NAMA supports FDA’s decision to not include oats in the list of prohibited grains and to provide a mechanism for oat producers who take the necessary steps to limit the gluten content of oat containing products to communicate that benefit to consumers.
- Methyl Bromide: Methyl bromide helps ensure millers, and their customers, that milled grain food products are manufactured in a sanitary setting. NAMA advocates for the continued use of methyl bromide until a technically and economically feasible alternative is found.
- The Decline in Wheat Production: Since 1981 U.S. wheat production has declined steadily. The benefit of a working relationship between millers and growers was illustrated this year when NAMA and the National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG) teamed up to identify the reasons and propose possible solutions. The result was the issuance of a background paper titled "Addressing the Competitiveness Crisis in Wheat."
- The Whole Grain Opportunity: The 2005 Dietary Guidelines issued by the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services provided a new opportunity for the grain-based food industry to take center stage. The guidelines recommend six-ounce equivalents servings of grains a day with at least three-ounce equivalents in the form of whole grains.
- WTO Position: All world grain and grain product trade should be undistorted, and there should be a complete elimination of export subsides by all parties to the WTO by a date certain.
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