USDA
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Top USDA official gets serious about local/regional food systems
Hope and fresh produce: Kathleen MerriganWith the climate bill gutted by Big Ag and stalled in the Senate, with health-care reform on the verge of collapse, prospects for real change in national politics are looking grim. Well, here’s some hope from what’s traditionally one of the executive branch’s most retrograde agencies: the USDA. USDA deputy […]
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Antibiotic-resistant salmonella burgers, with a side of flame retardants
A Colorado company recalled the equivalent of 1.86 million Quarter Pounders. In Meat Wagon, we round up the latest outrages of the meat and livestock industries. ————————————— Sometimes I think I write a little too much about the meat industry. But the news it generates is so consistently grave, and so generally underreported, that I […]
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USDA may get Dennis Wolff for food safety post because Gov. Ed Rendell doesn’t want him anymore
Wolff at the Dickinson College farm in Pennsylvania.Here’s a little rumor-mongering for fun, if not profit. Yes, as Tom Philpott reported, Dennis Wolff is for sure heading the list of candidates for the top food safety post at the USDA. But that’s not the fun part. The fun part involves the reason Dennis Wolff is […]
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E. coli and Campylobacteriosis: Why Obama’s USDA food-safety pick is so important
Side of E. coli with that burger?In Meat Wagon, we look at the latest outrages from the meat and livestock industries. —————————– As I reported Friday, a man with a Big Ag background has emerged as the frontrunner for a still-empty USDA post called “undersecretary of food safety.” The holder of this position oversees the […]
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Rumor: Obama pondering big-ag man for key USDA meat-safety role [UPDATED]
Safe enough for ya?UPDATE at bottom of story. ———————————— I normally don’t write about rumors or inside information. I aspire to be like the late journalist I.F. Stone, who scorned the dubious allure of insider “access” and kept his nose in government documents, where useful information leaks out. Today — as in its own time […]
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Food-safety legislation leaves gaping hole for meat giants
Yesterday’s post about JBS’ massive beef recall got me to thinking about the food-safety legislation creeping through the House: the other Waxman bill, H.R. 2749, or the Food Safety Enhancement Act The bill recently passed the passed through the House Energy and Commerce Committee and awaits consideration on the House floor; no vote is currently […]
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Yet again, Vilsack bows to ethanol gods
“The President has been very, very clear about this. He wants the biofuel industry to take hold in this country. He wants us to break our addiction to foreign oil. The only way we can do that is by producing our own fuel and the biofuels industry is the way we are going to do […]
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USDA food-desert report points to need for a soda tax
Obesity machine? The USDA released a new report on food deserts yesterday and the blogosphere lit up like a Christmas tree. Which, honestly, saves me a lot of trouble. Jill Richardson pulls out some excellent data nuggets here. To summarize: Food deserts are areas where residents lack access to supermarkets and other outlets selling a […]
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The Non-Concession concession?
Henry Waxman and Ed Markey seem to have mastered the art of the non-concession concession: striking deals with potential opponents in ways that meet their needs while minimizing (though not entirely eliminating) the negative impacts. Similar to their distribution of allowances, which seemed at first glance to be a massive giveaway but turned out to […]
