By Sarah Gonzalez, Director of Communications and Digital Media With more than 600 pages of rules dedicated to animal feed and pet food being implemented in the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) final rules, it’s important to understand how the wide-ranging law and these new FDA regulations will affect your business. A webinar hosted by the NGFA and Grain Journal will cover details and answer questions about the agency’s recently published FSMA regulations, which apply to domestic and foreign facilities that manufacture, process, pack or store animal feed, as well as pet food. David ... Read More
Education and Training
Get ahead on FSMA at the 2015 Feed and Pet Food Joint Conference
The 2015 Feed and Pet Food Joint Conference coming up next week is the first national conference to provide details on the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) regulations. “Make no mistake, those attending this conference and the associated free workshop will have a major head start in learning about what will be required to comply -and will be getting that assistance from the industry's premier experts,” noted NGFA President Randy Gordon. Dr. Dan McChesney, a key leader of FDA’s FSMA rule-drafting team, will discuss how the agency will move from rulemaking mode to implementation, and ... Read More
Online courses available on grain facility management
The Grain Elevator and Processing Society (GEAPS) and Kansas State University offer online, continuing education courses that supplement on-the-job training. Each course qualifies for a continuing education unit (CEU) and is taught by grain industry experts and faculty. Courses help improve job skills and make employees more valuable by exposing them to issues, standards and best practices from across the industry. Each course takes place completely online, and can be completed from anywhere with an internet connection. Three courses are available in November on grain facility management, ... Read More
NGFA safety resources available as harvest approaches
By Jess McCluer, Director of Safety and Regulatory Affairs As harvest time arrives, NGFA members should be aware of common grain entrapment hazards, applicable Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards, and available NGFA training materials that managers and supervisors can use to prevent incidents on site. There were at least 38 grain entrapment cases last year in the United States, representing a 15 percent increase in recorded entrapments from 2013, according to an annual report from Purdue University. The number of entrapments in 2014 is the highest since 2010, ... Read More
OSHA hosts Hazard Communication Standard webinar
By Jess McCluer, Director of Safety and Regulatory Affairs OSHA will provide a free webinar this week on inspection procedures for enforcing the hazard communication standard. The webinar, conducted by OSHA and the Society for Chemical Hazard Communication, is scheduled for Sept. 9 at 2 p.m. ET. Lana Nieves and Sven Rundman from OSHA’s Directorate of Enforcement Programs will discuss the Inspection Procedures for the Hazard Communication Standard enforcement directive and the requirements for manufacturers and importers to develop compliant safety data sheets. The presentation will cover ... Read More
Updated Comprehensive Guide to OSHA Training Requirements Now Available
Many Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards explicitly require employers to train employees in the safety and health aspects of their jobs. Meanwhile, other OSHA standards make it the employer’s responsibility to limit certain job assignments to employees who are “certified,” “competent,” or “qualified.” In addition, OSHA requires employees to be trained on certain topics annually, and others need to be repeated when a process change occurs in the facility or operation. Because of these varying requirements, OSHA has posted a fully updated version of its guide ... Read More
Department of Labor Revises Overtime Pay Regulations
On July 6, the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division published its proposed rule that amends regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) governing the “white collar” exemption from overtime pay for executive, administrative and professional employees. The proposed rule from DOL: would double the salary threshold for employees who are eligible to receive overtime pay – from $23,660 to $50,440. DOL also proposes to update this salary threshold every year through a notice in the Federal Register. does not propose regulatory changes to the duties tests, which ... Read More
NGFA Participates in Summit on New National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility
The NGFA on June 23-24 participated in a summit with livestock producers, animal health providers and allied industries to discuss how the new National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) being constructed in Manhattan, Kan., will serve animal research and bio-security needs. More than 150 attended the invitation-only summit hosted by Kansas State University. The summit was the first in a series that will be conducted with stakeholders to collaborate and foster partnerships necessary for NBAF to effectively protect the nation’s food supply and animal and human health. Expected to be ... Read More
NGFA and STC to Host Ag Transportation Summit
NGFA and the Soy Transportation Coalition (STC) on Aug. 4-5 will host the second Ag Transportation Summit: “Transportation Capacity – Overcoming the Challenges.” The event, sponsored in part by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service, will be held at the Westin O’Hare near Chicago. The inaugural summit occurred in July 2013. “U.S. farmers continue to demonstrate an ability to feed a growing and hungry planet,” says Scott Gauslow, a soybean farmer from Colfax, N.D., and chairman of the Soy Transportation Coalition. “However, in order to remain profitable, we must ... Read More
Reserve a Hotel Room by June 29 to Attend Elevator Design Conference
While the Elevator Design Conference host hotel is sold out, rooms are available at the Westin Kansas City at Crown Center, which is connected by a covered walkway to the Sheraton Crown Center Hotel, which is the conference site. Reservations for discounted rooms ($149 a night) must be made by June 29. The conference, which addresses “Applying New Technologies and Best Practices for Today’s Facilities,” features nearly a dozen, 45-minute sessions all day Wednesday, July 29 and the morning of Thursday, July 30. Sessions and speakers are: Considerations for Retrofitting Marshal ... Read More
Lacy Holleman
National Grain and Feed Association
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