Last updated on November 16th, 2015 at 11:27 am
New Channels News in Brief…
The FDA is requesting comments on use of the term “natural” on food labeling. The FDA is taking this action in part because it received three citizen petitions asking that the agency define the term “natural” for use in food labeling and one citizen petition asking that the agency prohibit the term “natural” on food labels. Specifically, the FDA asks for information and public comment on questions such as: whether it is appropriate to define the term “natural” and, if so, how the agency should define “natural” and how the agency should determine appropriate use of the term on food labels. The FDA is accepting public comments though Feb. 10, 2016…
President Barack Obama recently signed into law legislation to permanently strike the Affordable Care Act’s mandatory automatic enrollment provision off the federal books. The mandatory automatic enrollment provision would have required employers with more than 200 full-time employees to automatically enroll employees into coverage if a plan was not voluntarily chosen or declined by an employee. If this requirement would have remained in effect, employees could have lost the opportunity to select the coverage that best meets their own healthcare needs, and employers could have been subject to costly regulations…
The New England Vegetable & Fruit Conference and Trade Show will be held Dec. 15-17 at the Radisson Hotel in Manchester, New Hampshire, and will include 32 educational sessions over three days, covering major vegetable, berry and tree fruit crops as well as various special topics, such as hard cider and hops production. A trade show with more than 100 exhibitors will be open throughout the conference. One of the featured speakers will be Jean Martin Fortier of Les Jardins de la Grelinette in Quebec, who will speak on how to make “$100,000 Per Acre on a Small Farm.” The event is sponsored by the New England Vegetable & Berry Growers Association and the Massachusetts Fruit Grower’s Association in conjunction with the Universities of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont, as well as Cornell University, Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association and the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
