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Audit on Food Ingredients, Trade Wars and Goat Meat
73 Plays1 month ago
A busy week in the food and agriculture industry. Braeden and Savannah cover Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr's order for the FDA to eliminate the Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) Rule for food ingredients.
- Headline Story: https://www.food-safety.com/articles/10208-rfk-jr-directs-fda-to-explore-ways-to-eliminate-gras-rule-for-food-ingredients
As always, the pair also covered some fun and real stories through quick hits and live relations. You can expect to learn more about water wars, China versus Canada trade disputes, and a mama cow of quintuplets.
Other resources mentioned in the episode:
- Feeding the Economy: https://feedingtheeconomy.com/
- National Farmes Union: https://nfu.org/2025/03/09/national-farmers-union-announces-launch-of-25-million-farmers-capital-fund-to-drive-agricultural-innovation/
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Transcript
Introduction & Teasers
00:00:00
Speaker
goat meat, a mama cow that's doing the most and more, Pepsi going prebiotic, all this and much more. Let's get it.
00:00:14
Speaker
I'm Brayden. And I'm Savannah. Welcome to Magnetic Ag, Year's Edition, where we bring you weekly ag news fast. Just how you like it.
00:00:27
Speaker
Well, well, well, Savannah. They didn't kick us off the internet. We are back. Mic in hand. We're here again with Magnetic Ears Edition. Whoop, whoop. Let's get into another episode.
00:00:39
Speaker
Got lots of good stories on the bracket. All the good stories, the bracket like March Madness, which we might that might be something to talk about later. We've got more important things to talk about. All right. Well, if you're so eager to get into it, what do you got for quick hits this week, Braden? Let's do
Goat Meat Market Shift
00:00:54
Speaker
it.
00:00:54
Speaker
Goat consumption could be on the rise in the U.S. as sales reached $27 million 2024, up from million the midwest saw the largest increase in goat offerings Because someone had to ask, what else can we grill this weekend?
00:01:12
Speaker
I mean, same. Across the country, 28% consumers said they have tried it, according to Data Essential. Increased demand for goat meat could create new revenue streams for producers, diversify protein markets, and offer niche opportunities for small-scale farmers and ethnic markets.
00:01:28
Speaker
It also highlights a shifting consumer preference and an expanding palate in the U.S. protein sector.
EPA & WOTUS Debate
00:01:34
Speaker
Water Wars is back with a new makeover. The EPA, under Administrator Lee Zedlin, plans to rewrite WOTUS, or Waters of the U.S. The goal?
00:01:43
Speaker
To better align with Sackett versus the EPA, which narrowed the definition to regulating only wetlands and waterways with a continuous surface connection to a larger body of water.
00:01:55
Speaker
So not just any old damp spot. For farmers and landowners, this could mean more clarity on what actually falls under federal jurisdiction. But environmental advocates worry about what this means for protecting smaller wetlands.
00:02:07
Speaker
Sounds like lawmakers have a lot to dive into this year.
Roundup Sales Controversy
00:02:11
Speaker
After paying around $10 billion dollars in settlement claims related to glyphosate's potential cancer risk, Bayer has said it might stop selling Roundup weed killer altogether if it can't fortify its legal protections.
00:02:24
Speaker
The company says plaintiffs shouldn't be able to sue under state laws when the EPA and other regulators have deemed the product safe. If the lawyers keep lining up, Bayer might need more weed killer for legal paperwork than fields.
00:02:37
Speaker
Glyphosate is a cornerstone product for weed management. If bear pools round up from shelves, farmers could face higher costs, reduced efficiency, and increased regulatory complexity as they scramble for different alternatives.
Ag Day & Policy Advocacy
00:02:50
Speaker
March 18th was National Ag Day, or as us farmers like to call it, Tuesday. President Donald Trump issued a proclamation emphasizing agriculture's fundamental role in America's history and economy, acknowledging farmers and ranchers as a vital to the nation's success.
00:03:08
Speaker
Representative Mark Alfred of Missouri and Jim Costa of California also introduced a regulation to officially recognize agriculture as one of the most impactful industries in the U.S. While National Ag Day celebrations are great for visibility, the real win is putting agriculture at the forefront of policy conversations.
00:03:25
Speaker
From the farm bill to workforce issues, these conversations shape futures funding, consumer perception, and the ability to keep U.S. farmers competitive in a global market. In other words, nice photo ops, but also major business decisions in
China's Tariffs Impact
00:03:39
Speaker
the making. If trade talks were hockey, Canada just took a puck to the shin.
00:03:43
Speaker
Maybe they should wear more gear. Several Canadian ag products, including canola, oil cakes, peas, aquatic products, and pork, are getting slapped with tariffs from China. China will apply a 100% tariff to just over $1 billion dollars of Canadian rapeseed, aka canola,
00:04:00
Speaker
oil cakes and pea imports, and a 25% duty on $1.6 billion dollars worth of Canadian aquatic products and pork. The timing may serve as a warning shot, said Dan Wong, China director of Eurasia Group in Singapore.
00:04:14
Speaker
By striking now, China reminds Canada of the cost of aligning too closely with American trade policy. Trade tensions between China and Canada could ripple into the U.S. markets, shifting demand and pricing.
00:04:26
Speaker
It also reinforces how global politics can quickly impact commodity markets, trade flows, and farm incomes. Whoa, Brayden, there's a lot going on in the world of food and ag right
FDA's GRAS Rules Review
00:04:36
Speaker
now.
00:04:36
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In the headline for this week, Robert F. Kennedy directs FDA to explore ways to eliminate GRAS rules, also known as generally recognized as safe food ingredients.
00:04:48
Speaker
A quick overview, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the newly confirmed Secretary of Health and Human Services, is shaking things up in the FDA. He is directing the agency to explore eliminating the generally recognized as safe process, a system critics call a major loophole.
00:05:06
Speaker
Why? Right now, food companies can introduce new ingredients into the food supply without formal FDA oversight as long as they self-affirm their safety.
00:05:16
Speaker
That's a big one, Savannah. I think to help our audience out a little bit, let's do a little overview of what GRAS is. GRAS rule was established by the FDA in 1972 to allow widely used food ingredients, think salt, pepper, and types of flours, commonly understood to be safe for consumption through their history of use to remain on the market without extensive review.
00:05:37
Speaker
GRAS is a process in which food companies determine for themselves whether food ingredient is safe and can voluntarily notify the FDA. If a company shares its GRAS determination with the agency, f the FDA will either respond to that it has no further questions about the substance and safety or that additional evidence is required In the latter case, the company may either provide more data or withdraw its GRAS notification while still being able to introduce the new ingredient into the food supply as a GRAS substance.
00:06:09
Speaker
In other words, these ingredients have been used historically and are in most foods that we consume and are pretty normal and maybe even things you have in your cabinets at home and just kind of allows these companies to say, hey, this is in here.
00:06:22
Speaker
It's normal. We don't really need to report on it. Yeah, that's a great overview. And just to kind of add on to what this all really means for us, I think I know I did get this kind of confused with food additives versus um these GRAS foods.
00:06:39
Speaker
Food additives do have to get reviewed by the FDA. And those are things like sodium, benzenite, or caffeine, just other ingredients like that,
00:06:50
Speaker
where these GARS ingredients are just kind of your common household goods that are commonly added in many food products. That's really interesting. So let's read a quote from ah rfk Jr. to kind of get his viewpoint directly from him, directly from the source. For far too long, ingredient manufacturers and sponsors have exploited a loophole that has allowed new ingredients and chemicals, often with unknown safety data, to be introduced into the U.S. food supply without notification to the FDA or the public, said Secretary Kennedy.
00:07:20
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Eliminating this loophole will provide transparency to consumers, help get our nation's food supply back on track by ensuring that ingredients being introduced into foods are safe, and ultimately, make America healthy again.
00:07:33
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Okay, Savannah, all that being said, i think it's time to move on to our live reaction segment. What do you think? Let's do it. We have some fun ones. I think we do have some fun ones today. Yes, I'll
Agriculture's Economic Impact
00:07:42
Speaker
kick it off. So the 2025 Feeding the Economy report was recently shared and had some super fun and encouraging numbers that relate to the USN U.S. food and ag industries. So I'm just gonna kind of read off a few fun and exciting numbers to start us off.
00:07:59
Speaker
So we have 24 million jobs directly supported, which equates to 15% of the u s employment. $9.5 trillion dollars of the country's economic activity, which also equates to one-fifth of total U.S. outputs, nearly 2 million farms and ranches covering two-fifths of the U.S. acres, 200,000 jobs in food manufacturing, 1 million restaurants, and 200,000 stores.
00:08:30
Speaker
I think those numbers are really cool, Savannah. i also, i really think the last one's the most interesting though, to me personally, because it says 200,000 in retail stores specifically. And I feel like a lot of people don't realize those jobs in some form or fashion are connected to agriculture. It's kind of crazy just how this is a great way to look at ag being connected to everything.
00:08:50
Speaker
Yeah, it really in all of our aspects of lives, whether we realize it or not. If you would like to learn more or see these numbers in action, um I encourage everybody to check out feeding economy.com. It'll also be linked in our notes.
Rare Cattle Births
00:09:04
Speaker
All right, Savannah, I got to tell you a fun fact about my family before we get into my headline. So Amber's side, my wife, Amber side the family has 19 sets of twins and her cousin who is currently has going to have a baby in the fall is also pregnant with twins currently. So we were really afraid when Amber was pregnant with our first child that she was going to have twins. We did not have twins, but it could still happen.
00:09:28
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But there was a cow in Iowa that delivered more than two. She delivered triplets um at Ashton Creek Farm in Iowa. um And apparently they said she did it without assistance.
00:09:41
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So some really fun interesting facts about that. The odds of triplets in cattle are about 1 105,000. Even more unusual is the fact that all three of these calves survived. And the farm came out and said in this interview with Ag Daily or the reporting on Ag Daily that the mother accepted all three of them naturally.
00:10:01
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So some interesting, fun animal science facts. ah Multiple births in cattle are influenced by genetics and environment, according to Kansas State University's Beef Cattle Institute. That institute reports that twin births occur in about 2% of beef cattle pregnancies.
00:10:17
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Some other wild occurrences. these These get crazy, let me tell you. um A South Dakota cow also recently gave birth to quadruplets. She did this in February, which is an event that happens one in every 700,000 cow pregnancies.
00:10:34
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Ready for even something even wilder? last year and kid and Last year in Kidder County, North Dakota, a cow gave birth to quintuplets.
00:10:46
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For those of you that need some help with the math on quintuplets like I did, that's five. you imagine? Can you imagine?
00:10:56
Speaker
Those are crazy numbers. That's a lot of babies to be born through one cow. I mean, I don't know. My thought is just like, how small those calves were born in the triplets? The quintuplets story were the five of them. Quintuplets? Is that what you said? So did a news interview and Ag Daily posted the video.
00:11:14
Speaker
in their article and they talked about how this cow had been really big and they thought oh she's for sure having twins they got the second one pulled and they were like okay we're done and then all of a sudden there was a third one and then a fourth one and a fifth one
00:11:34
Speaker
That would be crazy to watch. The wild thing is, i don't know, like raise show pigs and so we've had, embarrassing to say, but we've had show pigs that have had less than five pigs. So to think of a cow having more is not something you would normally see on a daily basis.
00:11:52
Speaker
Okay, next story for us.
Farmers Union Economic Support Fund
00:11:55
Speaker
Last week, the National Farmers Union announced the launch of the Farmers Capital Fund, which is a $25 million dollars investment initiative for early and growth stage companies who are looking to support economic success in farm families and ranches.
00:12:11
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So basically, an easy way to think of this is this fund is going to help people that support farmers and ranchers. So when deciding who will be receiving these funds, the NFU will be guided by their three core principles, which are economic sustainability, productivity, and profitability. The press release that they used to announce so this new initiative says...
00:12:33
Speaker
So essentially we're thinking funds for those who are helping farmers? union mission to foster a fair and resilient food system that benefits both producers in so essentially we're thinking funds for those who are helping farmers That's what we're doing. We'll be in those. All right. So we want to move on.
Pepsi's Market Moves
00:12:51
Speaker
This one's a little interesting. So remember, let's flash back a few months ago. Savannah, for those of you that have been paying attention to Savannah and I know we're pretty in tune with pop culture and the things going on in the world, or we at least act like we are.
00:13:03
Speaker
So Savannah, do you like prebiotic soda? I have tried a couple, but I'm not like an active consumer. Me either. But do you remember that influencer campaign that went around on TikTok that was people getting literal vending machines for soda, like soda vending machines delivered to their front doors?
00:13:25
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Took up so much space in their houses. Took so much space in their houses. People even like were pretty critical of it and were saying it was pretty excessive, this, that, and the other. um Well, that company, that brand was Poppy, known for their pre-bought-it sodas.
00:13:40
Speaker
So on March 17th, so just this week, Pepsi announced that they had reached a deal to acquire the brand for a net purchase price of $1.65 billion. dollars This is on the heels of just last month, Coca-Cola was launched their own prebiotic soda brand, Simply Pop.
00:13:58
Speaker
And how I came across this was through my social media feeds, seeing people are kind of, some people aren't happy about it. They are afraid, like these poppy lovers, these hardcore poppy people, are afraid that their formula is going to get messed up and then it's not going to be the same poppy that they love.
00:14:15
Speaker
But according to Today.com's reporting, poppy representatives and as well as Pepsi representatives say they're going to honor what makes poppy so special while supporting its next phase of growth and innovation.
00:14:28
Speaker
Yeah, I'm curious to see what their growth and innovation is. The first thing that came to my mind when i saw that you had this on our sheet today was one of my favorite influencers, Alex Earl, has like one, very small percent, like one percent in the Poppy company.
00:14:45
Speaker
And she still made like over a million dollars on this buyout. So should have invested in Poppy, I guess. We should have invested in Poppy. We'll see. It's going to be interesting to see how, one, how that this kind of affects their brand and their image and their customer base, but also how this new competitor in the market, Coca-Cola, does as well.
00:15:05
Speaker
Crazy things happening world. All right, Brayden. Well, looks like we've used up a good portion of our listeners' time. Should we wrap this thing up?
00:15:16
Speaker
All right. Well, that was all we got for Magnetic Ag Ears Edition today. Be sure to tune in next week for more fun ag news. Do you have a different take on this week's headlines?
00:15:28
Speaker
Leave your thoughts and feedback in the comment section. We want to know your perspective on all things magnetic ears. Oh, and by the way, we'll take your hot takes too.