Food Policy

This Thanksgiving, the cost of putting turkey on the table is going up, thanks not just to inflation or supply chain issues, but to the ongoing bird flu epidemic ravaging U.S. factory farms and the failure of both government and industry to control it.

Thanksgiving is supposed to be a time of warmth, gratitude, and home-cooked meals shared around the table—not a trip to the emergency room. Yet the turkey at the center of America’s favorite holiday may come with a hidden danger: salmonella.

Consider the raw chicken you pick up at the grocery store for dinner. It might be one of many packages that the CDC says could be contaminated with Salmonella.

The United States Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service—the federal agency tasked with protecting the public from foodborne illness—is failing in its mandate by allowing high rates of Salmonella contamination to enter the national food supply.

Some of the most recognizable chicken and poultry brands sell products from slaughter and processing plants that fail USDA’s salmonella standards, allowing large volumes of contaminated meat to enter the food supply. How can you tell?

Tariffs may be headline-grabbing, they can distract from a deeper issue: many countries simply don’t want U.S. meat because of how it’s produced.

Three years into the outbreak and amidst outrageous increases in egg prices, the United States Department of Agriculture continues to make dangerous payouts to big companies and delay corrective action.

During the last decade, regenerative agriculture has received a lot of attention as a form of farming that promises environmental benefits compared to industrial farming systems. While regenerative agriculture can improve soil quality and soil microbiome, it is far from being a silver bullet for climate change—and has its own drawbacks.

Farm Forward is deeply alarmed by the first bird flu death recorded in the United States. The federal government must act to get the outbreak under control.

Farm Forward is proud to announce the launch of a new nonprofit, the Center for Jewish Food Ethics (CJFE)—the culmination of our eight years of incubation and support for farmed animal advocacy in the Jewish community.

Three U.S. Senators, working closely with Farm Forward, have urged the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) to strengthen its guidelines on animal welfare and environmental labeling claims, citing widespread deception in food marketing that harms both consumers and independent farmers.

A coalition of environmental and animal protection groups gathered in Lansing to oppose a bill in Michigan that would enrich factory farming and fossil fuel interests.

The government is freaking us out on bird flu. It’s not what they’re saying—it’s what they are not saying.

A USDA testing program finds that at least 20 percent of tested cattle samples labeled “raised without antibiotics” or “no antibiotics ever” tested positive for antibiotics. USDA buries findings and reports no punitive action.

In anticipation of the 2024 Farm Bill, we are proud to play a part in introducing new federal legislation that would leverage billions of dollars of food spending by USDA to help build a more just, healthy, and sustainable food system.

Farm Forward sent a letter to the Deputy Undersecretary of Food Safety at the USDA sharing our concerns and offering actionable recommendations that would help ensure consumer trust in meat labeling.

The USDA announced changes to the guidelines meat companies must follow if they want to label their products as “humanely raised,” “free range,” or “raised without antibiotics.”

Farm Forward is collaborating with Yale Law School’s CAFE Law and Policy Lab and several other NGOs to develop innovative policy approaches that can be enacted at the state and municipal level to challenge factory farming practices.

A federal judge struck down North Carolina’s “Ag-gag” law, ruling that several of its provisions are unconstitutional and violate the First Amendment.

Farm Forward supports the Industrial Agriculture Accountability Act of 2022. The bill would establish a new office to hold the industry accountable and would implement reforms that would benefit not only meat and poultry workers but also the billions of farmed animals killed every year in the U.S.

Farm Forward welcomed the World Health Organization (WHO) Intergovernmental Negotiating Body’s recent request for public guidance on the question, “What substantive elements do you think should be included in a new international instrument on pandemic preparedness and response?” 

United Nations scientists warn that a climate catastrophe is coming, and a leaked UN document urges a shift to plant-based proteins as a strategy to stave off the most dire scenarios.  

The U.S. District Court ruled that Farm Forward and a coalition of animal and environmental protection organizations have standing to sue the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), regarding regulations at pig slaughterhouses.  

While COVID-19 may have emerged from a wet market, the greater pandemic risk is our insatiable appetite for cheap, factory farmed meat.

Farm Forward supports the mega-dairy moratorium which would allow a pause in the permitting of new and expanding mega-dairies until meaningful protections can be enacted to protect Oregon’s air, water, climate, rural communities, small farmers and animal welfare.

This historic legislation has the potential to change the conversation about the future of animal agriculture in America.

This week Farm Forward, along with a coalition of more than 50 organizations, called on Congress to prevent corporate factory farm companies from receiving COVID-19 relief funds, and instead to direct funds to small and midsize farmers and food chain workers who have been disproportionately impacted by the crisis.  

Joining the Leadership Circle is part of Seattle U’s broader effort to become a more sustainable university.

Stand Up To Factory Farms Coalition and Supporters Say the New Easterday Farms Dairy Would Repeat the Troubled History of Lost Valley 

We’re excited to welcome Harvest Table Culinary Group (HTCG) to Farm Forward’s Leadership Circle, with the most comprehensive welfare commitment of any food service management company to date.  

Over the past few years, more and more institutions have made the connection: our food choices impact our health, the environment, and the lives of animals, and are interwoven into many other social justice issues.

Today, Farm Forward along with a coalition of family farm, animal welfare, and environmental groups sent a letter to Oregon Governor Kate Brown condemning the reappointment of Marty Myers, general manager of Threemile Canyon Farms for a second four-year term on Oregon’s Board of Agriculture.

Public Justice filed a motion for summary judgment asking the Court to enjoin North Carolina from enforcing the “Anti-Sunshine Law” and declare it unconstitutional.