FDA rewrites animal-testing rules; an Iowa hog barn grows mushrooms
The Physicians Committee says the FDA amended many regulations in 2026 so animal tests are no longer the default for meeting drug-testing requirements.
4 top stories21 sources read82 articles scanned6 sides of vegan life
The Physicians Committee says the FDA amended many regulations in 2026 so animal tests are no longer the default for meeting drug-testing requirements [1].
02
An Iowa family that raised about 8,000 hogs a year now grows lion's mane mushrooms in half of a 200-foot former hog barn [54].
03
Hormel's proposed $1.05 billion Brakebush Brothers deal would lift chicken from under 5% of its protein mix to about 13% [70].
04
Risk and complexity were the main barriers to cultured-meat adoption intent in a survey of 956 Romanian consumers [13].
The Stories: the day’s biggest developments, in the sources’ own words
01▲Law & PolicyStory
FDA amends drug-testing rules to allow nonanimal methods, Physicians Committee says
Photo: physicians committee
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine says that in 2026 the FDA amended many of its regulations so companies can meet legal requirements in drug testing with cell- and computer-based methods instead of animals [1]. The change follows the agency's April 2025 Roadmap to Reducing Animal Testing in Preclinical Safety Studies, and the group says both the US House and Senate have passed the FDA Modernization Act 3.0, which would require the FDA to update many regulations [1]. Everything here is the group's own account; the FDA's documents were not readable in today's sources [1].
“While the FDA can still choose to require certain animal testing, its regulations no longer make animal testing the default in the provisions that were amended.”
Physicians Committee, advocacy group that lobbied for the change · [1]
“Many of these regulations were developed long before nonanimal technologies were common and have not been updated as science has evolved.”
Faaborg family converts Iowa hog barn into a specialty mushroom farm with Mercy For Animals' help
Photo: mercy for animals
A central Iowa family that raised about 8,000 hogs a year now grows lion's mane and other specialty mushrooms in half of a former hog barn, NPR reported, with help from Mercy For Animals' Transfarmation Project [54]. The Faaborgs left hog production in 2022 and sell tinctures, coffee blends and flavored salt; the farm is set to receive $216,000 over four years to document the model for other farmers [54]. The article calls the model "possibly more profitable" but gives no margin figures [54].
“We're finding ways to repurpose the infrastructure that the farmers already have,”
Katherine Jernigan, director of The Transfarmation Project · [54]
“That part of my life is gone and in exchange is just this little pond. My grandkids catch frogs. That's probably been my favorite part of it all.”
Romanian survey and new reviews name risk, cost and scale-up as cultured meat's hurdles
Wikimedia Commons / Cultured meat
In a survey of 956 Romanian consumers, knowing about cultured meat was linked to adoption intention only indirectly, through lower perceived risk and complexity and higher perceived compatibility and relative advantage [13]. A review chapter on alternative-protein sustainability says cultured meat's commercial adoption is limited by production cost, long-term safety questions, regulation and doubts about mass-scale sustainability [20]. A separate review says precision fermentation still has to reach cost parity with animal proteins, held back by low volumetric productivity and by scale-ups that often fail at industrial size [26].
“the high cost of production, long-term safety issues, complex regulatory processes, and concerns on the sustainability of mass implementation have limited its commercial adoption”
review chapter, Sustainability of alternative proteins · [20]
“Perceived Risk and complexity emerge as major barriers, being negatively associated with adoption Intention”
956Romanian consumers surveyed, analyzed with structural equation modeling [13]
FromPubMed
04▼InnovationStory
Hormel announces $1.05 billion deal for chicken processor Brakebush Brothers
Photo: foodnavigator
Hormel Foods announced a $1.05 billion deal for Brakebush Brothers, a Westfield, Wis., value-added chicken company with about $1.2 billion in net sales over the last 12 months [70]. It is Hormel's largest acquisition since the $3.35 billion Planters purchase in 2021, and it still needs approval [70]. Hormel is also shedding units, having sold a controlling stake in Justin's and exited whole-bird turkey and Brazil [70].
“chicken has been probably the least of the proteins for us – under 5% historically. With this acquisition, it will now be closer to 13% even with turkey and beef for our portfolios”
Jeff Ettinger, Hormel interim CEO, on a conference call · [70]
By the numbers
$12.1 billionHormel's fiscal 2025 net sales, so Brakebush would add roughly a tenth [70]
$3.94 billionHormel's foodservice sales in fiscal 2025, about 32.6% of the total [70]
FromFoodNavigator.com
Worth Knowing
Food & Recipes
Plate pick: Cinnaholic's buy-one-get-one cinnamon roll deal runs Sunday, October 4, at its more than 90 US locations, with the seasonal Caramel Apple Pie roll (apples, pecans, housemade pie crumble) on the menu [28].
VegNews editors combed Target's candy aisles for 20 vegan treats, including Reese's Plant-Based Peanut Butter Cups and accidentally vegan Skittles, and flag carmine, gelatin and confectioner's glaze as the sneaky animal ingredients [29].
Wholly Veggie's Dill Pickle Cauli-Drums, cauliflower drumsticks from the Canadian brand, have reached Whole Foods, one of five flavors alongside Buffalo, Ranch, Japanese BBQ and Nashville Hot [28].
Law & Policy
The FDA said October 2 that it found Cyclospora in a wastewater tank at the Taylor Farms de Mexico plant and in a grower's drainage ditch, tied to an iceberg lettuce outbreak that sickened 12,883 people, hospitalized 570 and killed two, though the agency says it cannot yet say how the contamination happened [60].
Activism & Animals
Viva! points to the UK's 2024 antibiotic surveillance report, in which 53 per cent of farm antibiotics went into water and 27 per cent into feed, and reads that as routine prevention rather than treatment [56].
Wins & Culture
Willem Dafoe ate plant-based nuggets through all ten rounds of Hot Ones; the actor is not vegan but called the final hot sauce a favorite [72].
One Good Thing
During a 2022 Red Sea heat wave, corals treated with probiotic bacteria on a reef 15 kilometers off Saudi Arabia kept their color and their photosynthetic efficiency while untreated corals declined [50]. The results, published September 3 in Cell Reports, are the first to indicate that probiotics may protect corals in the wild, and a heat-killed version of one treatment worked too, which could make it cheaper and easier to store [50]. The limits are plain: only one coral species was treated, and nobody yet knows whether the corals live longer [50]. Ohio State's Andrea Grottoli, who was not involved, called showing it on a real reef "fantastic" [50].
