USDA’s Food Safety and inspection Service failed to explain why it did not consider worker safety in a 2019 rule allowing pork slaughter facilities to increase line speeds, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

Five federal employees, including a Food Safety and Inspection Service inspector, have sued the federal government for hazard pay for working during the coronavirus crisis.

Congressional leaders have reached agreement on a $2 trillion economic rescue package that would replenish the Agriculture Department’s Commodity Credit Corp. authority and earmark additional money for livestock and specialty crop producers as well as local agriculture.

The White House is asking Congress for $45.8 billion to cover the rising cost to the Agriculture Department and other departments and agencies of responding to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Agriculture Department is clarifying labeling requirements for meat and poultry products, including for claims that animals are “grass-fed” or treated without antibiotics or hormones.

The Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service has announced 172 American poultry slaughter and processing facilities that can export their products to China.

New rulemaking from the Department of Agriculture will allow swine slaughter facilities to opt in to a new inspection system that focuses on new requirements for microbial testing and pathogen control.

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue has appointed Carmen Rottenberg as administrator of the department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service and Paul Kiecker as her top deputy.