WHAT HAPPENED: USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has updated its China export restrictions webpage to reflect that China has lifted HPAI-related poultry export restrictions for 17 states, effective May 15, 2026. The states are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia. Only products produced on or after May 15, 2026 are eligible for export to China from these states.
BACKGROUND: China had been blocking raw poultry imports from U.S. states affected by HPAI outbreaks. Under a Regionalization Agreement, HPAI restrictions by state are meant to be lifted 90 days after cleaning and disinfection, but China had not been abiding by that provision.
THE 2020 REGIONALIZATION AGREEMENT: It has been reported that APHIS has confirmed that China has agreed to resume the terms of the 2020 Regionalization Agreement. Under that framework, APHIS may submit state closeout reports 90 days after cleaning and disinfection is completed, and China then has 5 days to review and lift restrictions as applicable — providing a more timely and predictable path to restoring access.
WHAT’S NEXT: Twenty-seven states remain under restriction by China. The key broiler-producing states of Georgia, Mississippi, and Missouri have all recently reached the 90-day post-cleaning and disinfection milestone, meaning APHIS closeout reports for those states could be expected soon.
NCC’s TAKE: “China is a major market for U.S. chicken, especially paws, and the lifting of export restrictions and the reinstatement of the regionalization framework is a significant development,” said NCC President Harrison Kircher. “I want to thank the Trump administration, USTR and APHIS in particular, for their work in holding China to the terms it agreed to. Restoration of access would have a meaningful impact on export volumes of American chicken.”
Source: Magnific
WHAT HAPPENED: President Trump and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced two actions on a final rule revising the Biden-era 2023 Technology Transitions Rule and a proposed technical fix to the 2024 Emissions Reduction and Reclamation (ER&R) Rule, both of which address costly restrictions on the types of refrigerants American businesses and families can use.
WHO IT AFFECTS: The actions would affect grocers, semiconductor manufacturers and other companies that use hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), greenhouse gases used in refrigeration and air conditioning systems.
WHAT’S IN THE RULES: The final revisions to the 2023 Technology Transitions Rule extend compliance deadlines for the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), making a wider variety of refrigerants available to businesses while still meeting statutory requirements. EPA is also proposing to exempt all road refrigerant transport appliances from HFC leak repair requirements established in the 2024 ER&R Rule, removing burdens for owners and major U.S. operators of these appliances.
WILL IT REDUCE COSTS: According to a White House Fact Sheet, changes to the Technology Transitions Rule are estimated to save Americans over $900 million, including over $800 million at the supermarket level, and will safeguard over 350,000 high-skilled American jobs. Changes to the Emissions Reduction and Reclamation Rule could save transporters of refrigerated goods, including food, up to $1.5 billion.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING: “Americans were right to be frustrated with the Biden-era refrigerant rules. They didn’t protect human health or the environment and instead piled on costly, unattainable restrictions beyond what the law requires,” said EPA Administrator Zeldin.
EPA Commissioner Lee Zeldin. Source: ABC News
WHAT’S NEXT: EPA has indicated it will also be reconsidering the remainder of the 2024 ER&R Rule in the future.
WHAT HAPPENED: The Circular Action Alliance (CAA), the designated producer responsibility organization (PRO) for six of the seven states with enacted Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) packaging laws, has set a supply report deadline of May 31, 2026 — effectively June 1 since May 31 falls on a Sunday — for obligated producers. Chicken processors and other food industry producers that sell packaged products into California, Colorado, Oregon, Maryland, Minnesota, or Washington may be subject to these requirements.
BACKGROUND: EPR laws require companies — including brand owners, manufacturers, and licensees — to register with a PRO, report the weight of “covered materials” (generally single-use packaging, food service ware, and in some states paper products) sold into each state, and pay fees to the PRO.
WHAT’S DUE: Requirements vary by state. Producers in California, Colorado, and Oregon must file annual supply reports covering calendar year 2025 packaging data by material category. Producers in Maryland, Minnesota, and Washington must submit simplified “interim” supply reports for 2025. California producers face additional obligations, including a baseline plastic packaging report for 2023, an annual source reduction report, and — for those seeking a “small producer” exemption (under $1 million in gross California sales) — an exemption application, all due June 1. California producers also have an Individual Source Reduction Plan due August 1, 2026.
WHY IT MATTERS FOR THE CHICKEN INDUSTRY: Chicken companies that sell products in retail or food service packaging in any of these six states should assess whether they qualify as an “obligated producer” under each state’s law. Missing the reporting deadline could expose companies to compliance risk as state EPR programs move from planning into active enforcement phases.
The White House congressional picnic on Tuesday featured a “boardwalk buffet” of herb roasted chicken, short ribs and salmon. The White House posted video of President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump welcoming the members of Congress.
Source: CNN reporter Alejandra Jaramillo on X
This Memorial Day weekend, NCC honors America’s military men and women who lost their lives in service to our country. We will never forget their sacrifices to ensure the United States remains the land of the free.
WHAT HAPPENED: The House on Wednesday passed a bill, by a 218-203 vote, to allow year-round sales of higher ethanol blends, known as E15. The measure garnered support from 122 Republicans, 95 Democrats and one independent. The biofuel bill was rejected by 90 GOP members and 113 Democrats. A total of nine lawmakers didn’t vote.
BACKGROUND: Sales of E15, a fuel blend with 15 percent ethanol and 85 percent gasoline, have been typically restricted for parts of the year because of smog concerns, though President Trump has used executive action to allow E15 sales this summer.
THE MAIN STICKING POINT: The objections center around the economic ripple effects of language that would change how the Environmental Protection Agency handles small refinery exemptions (SREs) from national biofuel-blending rules under the Renewable Fuel Standard. The SRE provision also faces objection from independent refiners who say it would lead to burdensome compliance costs and put union jobs at risk.
WHAT’S NEXT: The bill faces some stiff opposition in the Senate. Some Republican senators from oil-producing states have vowed to oppose the bill, underscoring the challenges it faces in the upper chamber, where legislation must meet a 60-vote threshold to advance.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING: “I oppose a year-round E15 mandate. That’s what’s currently under debate,” said Sen. John Barasso (R-WY). “I oppose it because it hurts small refineries and all of the people around the country who work in these small refineries.”
“In truth, ‘E15,’ as it is known, is the ethanol lobby’s Trojan horse to expand one of the most costly and destructive federal mandates in U.S. history: the Renewable Fuel Standard. Without reforms to the underlying rule, the E15 expansion entrenches a hidden gas tax, drives up food and fuel prices, slashes vehicle efficiency, threatens refining jobs, and undermines American energy dominance.” — Reps. Scott Perry (R-PA) and Chip Roy (R-TX) in a recent op-ed.
Source: Good in Every Grain
