“Evaluating product safety is reasonable, but the goal of these bills is to stack the deck so these products won't get a fair assessment.”

Measures introduced in Congress call for short-turnaround assessments of antibiotics used for nontherapeutic purposes in livestock. Problem is, most such products in the beef industry were approved prior to the requirement of evaluation of antimicrobial resistance potential during the approval process. The result, says Mike Apley, DVM, in “Understanding PAMTA,” is the potential loss of these products.

“America's medical establishment inherited a paradigm — a way of thinking about obesity — that they've never questioned and see no reason to test its validity.”

Low-fat, high-carbohydrate diets have been promoted since the 1980s; in that time, obesity has increased markedly. Is there a correlation? In “Big Fat Lies?”, Diana Barto chronicles how a new book is convincing consumers and researchers to rethink some well-accepted tenets of human nutrition.

“Research shows a 1,000-lb. carcass can be reduced to skeletal remains in four months if the process began in warm seasons.”

With rendering costs, biosecurity concerns and environmental regulations increasing, it's getting harder — and more expensive — to deal with carcasses on the farm. One alternative is composting, writes Managing Editor Alaina Burt. In “Dealing With Deads,”, she details the art and science as divulged by researchers.