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USDA

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    Getting at the roots of unsustainable U.S. ag policy

    Cross-posted from Civil Eats. Around one third of global greenhouse gas emissions come from the way we produce, process, distribute, and consume the food we eat according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Meanwhile, farmers the world over will be the most affected by climate change, as higher carbon in the atmosphere and […]

    Paula Crossfield Politics

  • Is anyone in charge of food safety?

    The fact that there remains no one in charge of food safety at the USDA has become a sick sort of joke among food policy types. It’s true that there is a second in command, Jerold Mande — but he’s a cancer doctor with no food safety background and, at best, a caretaker. He has […]

    Tom Laskawy Politics

  • A new direction on research at the USDA?

    Last week, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack gave a speech on the role of research at the USDA at the launch of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), the research arm of that agency formerly referred to as the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES). Vilsack had this to say in […]

    Paula Crossfield Technology

  • Can the USDA really keep our food safe?

    Having read and listened to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack’s attempts at ground beef-related damage control in the wake of the recent food safety revelations, I’m left to wonder if the USDA simply needs to get out of the food safety business entirely. Vilsack himself — in a Minnesota NPR radio interview where he defended the […]

    Tom Laskawy Politics

  • Warning: This product may cause sickness, paralysis, and death

    It’s hard to draw any other conclusion from Michael Moss’s New York Times blockbuster investigative piece on E. coli in industrial beef, which is centered on the plight of Stephanie Smith, a young dance instructor left comatose, near death and now paralyzed from eating a single Cargill hamburger. Of course, a “single hamburger” can include […]

    Tom Laskawy Politics

  • Illinois points the way to food system reform

    Not your father’s Corn Belt. This development in Illinois managed to pass somewhat under the radar, probably because it took place during the dog days of summer. But it’s still a big deal — Illinois has a new law that starts building the infrastructure for a real regional food system: The legislation establishes a council […]

    Tom Laskawy Politics

  • Quick thoughts on the USDA’s ‘Know Your Farmer’ program

    What should we make of the USDA’s “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food” initiative, which the agency rolled out this week? USDA via FlickrAfter hearing USDA official Ann Wright’s remarks Tuesday in Chicago and reading through the press release, I’m both encouraged and skeptical. Speaking to attendees at the Chefs Collaborative Summit — an audience […]

    Tom Philpott Politics

  • USDA’s $65 million drop in the bucket

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture is so fired up about local food economies that it’s coughing up $65 million for a new program called “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food.” My first reaction: $65 million?!  That’s all?! At 3:45 central time a top USDA official is speaking at the event I’m at in Chicago. I […]

    Tom Philpott Food

  • Big Food’s ‘Smart Choices’ label raises eyebrows at the FDA

    “Smart Choice”–where’s the hole in this logic?Zanastardust/FlickrYou don’t need to be a nutritionist with an advanced degree to know that Froot Loops only qualifies as a “Smart Choice” on Planet Kellogg’s. But as the NYT told us over the weekend, if you are a nutritionist at a prestigious university’s nutrition school, you just might think […]

    Tom Laskawy Politics