Tag: USDA

Aldi, Wegmans Among Grocery Stores Recalling Peaches Due to Possible Salmonella Contamination

Jacob Taylor

Aldi, Wegmans, Kroger and Target stores are all recalling bagged and loose peaches from Wawona Packing Company out of an abundance of caution that those products may be contaminated Salmonella.

The peaches are being recalled after an investigation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) looking into a salmonella outbreak. The California fruit packing company is suspected to be the source of the illness of over 60 people in nine states.

Read the full story

Commentary: USDA Workers, Kansas City Is Better Than You Think

Admin

by Joshua Sharf   On Thursday, a gaggle of civil servants protested the proposed relocation of a couple of Agriculture Department bureaus from Washington, D.C. to Kansas City, Missouri by boldly turning their backs on a speech delivered by Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue. Perdue announced that the Economic Research Service, which provides research and statistical analysis for lawmakers, and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, which allocates federal research funding, would be moving most of their personnel and operations by the end of September. These employees have had a year either to make peace or make plans, but instead, they decided to wait until the final announcement to purse their lips, cross their arms, and stare off into space. Clearly, the USDA has been violating child labor laws by hiring toddlers. Watch CNN’s reporting of the incident: The long-haired guy in the middle is holding his breath until he matches his shirt color, and the man in the plaid shirt to his right looks like he’s auditioning for the Actor’s Studio. The bald fellow to the left doesn’t look entirely committed to the cause. You would think Perdue is exiling these people to a remote outpost in Greenland. It…

Read the full story

USDA Workers Turn Backs to Sonny Perdue After Announcing Relocation from D.C. to Kansas City

Zachery Schmidt

  American Federation of Government Employees turned their backs on Agricultural Secretary Sonny Perdue Thursday while he spoke after the USDA announced its plan to relocate workers from Washington D.C. to the Kansas City region. Perdue announced the same day the reason for moving the Department of Agriculture’s research agencies – the Economic Research Service (ERS) and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture – was to be closer to prominent farming areas, according to Politico. “Following a rigorous site selection process, the Kansas City Region provides a win-win: maximizing our mission function by putting taxpayer savings into programmatic outputs and providing affordability, easy commutes, and extraordinary living for our employees,” Perdue said. American Federation of Government Employees members from NIFA snd ERS turn backs on Agriculture Secretary Perdue at session on their unwanted relocation from DC to Kansas City area. #USDA pic.twitter.com/40JlVtuXFl — Jerry Hagstrom (@hagstromreport) June 13, 2019 The USDA believes Kansas City is the “hub” of the agricultural industry, and the move will save taxpayers money. The government agency believes it can save “nearly $300 million nominally over a 15-year lease term on employment costs.” These predicted savings will allow for funding of critical agricultural areas, according to…

Read the full story

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue Pushes Back on ‘Sensational Reporting’ of Food Inspections Being Stopped

Admin

by Michael Bastasch   Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue pushed back on what he called “sensational reporting” that the government shutdown had put a halt to food inspections. “Want to calm some fears because of somewhat sensational reporting on the shutdown,” Perdue said in a tweet Friday in response to alarming headlines, including those from The New York Times and NBC News, over food inspections halting during the government shutdown. “[USDA] inspectors are still at work, checking meat, poultry & processed eggs. Inspectors also screening for pests at export & import points, incl between Hawaii & Puerto Rico and mainland,” Perdue tweeted. Want to calm some fears because of somewhat sensational reporting on the shutdown. @USDAFoodSafety inspectors are still at work, checking meat, poultry & processed eggs. Inspectors also screening for pests at export & import points, incl between Hawaii & Puerto Rico and mainland. — Sonny Perdue (@SonnyPerdue) January 11, 2019 Perdue is referring to USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, which oversees about 20 percent of U.S. food production. Those inspectors have continued to work without pay while the government is shut down. The federal government has been partially shut down for 21 days. The wave of alarming coverage…

Read the full story

The Government May Require Almond Milk, Soy Milk to Use Non-Milk Names

Admin
Dairy Cow

by John-Michael Seibler and Taylor Chaffetz   If Washington politicians, bureaucrats, and lobbyists have their way, consumers of common non-dairy “milks”—such as almond milk and soy milk—may soon have to buy those products under obscure labeling such as “plant juice” and “tree-nut beverage.” In another unfortunate instance of overcriminalization, after efforts to make it a crime to label non-dairy products as “milk” stalled in the Senate, the Food and Drug Administration may now be trying to do through regulatory means what Congress has been unwilling or unable to do through legislation. That’s an utter shame—pun intended—especially for an administration otherwise committed to sensible deregulation. Last year, Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., introduced the “Defending Against Imitations and Replacements of Yogurt, Milk, and Cheese To Promote Regular Intake of Dairy Everyday Act”—the “DAIRY PRIDE Act.” That would make it a federal crime to use the term “milk” on the label of any beverage not derived from “lacteal secretion … obtained by the complete milking of one or more hooved mammals.” The bill’s main premise is that plant-based products labeled as “milk” mislead the average American into thinking that it either comes from cows or has the same nutritional content as a cow’s milk. It also suggests that…

Read the full story

Hundreds Of Federal Employees Will Be Moved Out Of Washington, D.C.

Admin
moving

by Tim Pearce   The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is moving two agencies and roughly 700 federal employees out of Washington, D.C., to save money and improve the department’s service to taxpayers. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced Thursday that the Economic Research Service (ERS) and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) will be fully moved out of the nation’s capital by 2020, according to the USDA. A location hasn’t been picked yet. “It’s been our goal to make USDA the most effective, efficient, and customer-focused department in the entire federal government,” Perdue said in a statement. “In our Administration, we have looked critically at the way we do business, with the ultimate goal of ensuring the best service possible for our customers, and for the taxpayers of the United States.” “In some cases, this has meant realigning some of our offices and functions, or even relocating them, in order to make more logical sense or provide more streamlined and efficient services,” Perdue said. As part of the reorganization, Perdue is also moving the Economic Research Service (ERS) out from under the USDA’s Research, Education, and Economics branch. The ERS will be placed back in the Office of the Chief…

Read the full story

Tennessee Kids Awarded Federal Money for Hunger and Obesity

Chris Butler
Steve Cohen

Up until at least 2014, U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, complained too many of Tennessee’s kids were malnourished and starving and only government could step in to fix the problem. And, yes, Cohen got grant money for that. Now we have the reverse. This year, according to Cohen’s office, too many Volunteer State children are pudgy and, as you may have surmised, taxpayers have to get involved to amend that too. And, yes, Cohen wants grant money. Did the government programs meant to purge kids’ hunger work a little too well, making all the kids flabby? Do standardized test scores have something to do with this? Why the sudden U-turn? The Tennessee Star got no answers Thursday, as no one from Cohen’s office returned a request for comment. But Cohen explained some of his reasoning in a new press release. “We have a real problem with childhood obesity in this country and I am disheartened to note that Tennessee has the highest rate of any state at 38 percent,” Cohen announced. The national childhood obesity rate, however, is 31 percent, Cohen said. Cohen’s new Reducing Obesity in Youth Act will create grant programs to encourage kids to exercise and eat…

Read the full story

Got ‘Scam?’ – Dairy Farmers Are Getting Milked By The USDA’s Checkoff Program

Admin
Dairy Cow

by Andrew Kerr    – Dairy farmers are forced to pay a tax that funds nonprofits dedicated to boosting dairy sales  – One dairy farmer says the nonprofits are doing a “pretty piss poor job”  – The nonprofit that takes the most pays its top executives salaries so lavish they may violate IRS rules Pennsylvania dairy farmer Brenda Cochran has weathered over $600,000 in losses to her mid-sized farm from a nearly 40 percent drop in milk prices since 2014. Further compounding Cochran’s financial strain is her forced participation in the Department of Agriculture’s dairy checkoff program, which siphons up to $4,000 from her bottom line each year to fund a network of nonprofit organizations tasked with promoting the dairy industry through advertisements and the development of new products. The organizations that receive her federally-mandated checkoff payments told Cochran that the program has had a “huge impact” on boosting dairy sales, primarily through the creation of new products for major fast food chains. But Cochran isn’t buying it. She says the organizations she’s forced to fund are doing a “pretty piss poor job” doing anything to support struggling dairy farmers. The nonprofit that receives the largest share of dairy checkoff dollars has used the funds to…

Read the full story

How Government Makes Us Fatter and Fatter

Admin

by Jenna Robinson   The government, with its accomplices in the food lobby, has helped to make and keep us fat. Through subsidies and misguided food suggestions, Congress, the FDA, and the USDA have made it more difficult for Americans to make smarter dietary decisions. It’s not as if we don’t care. Americans spend $33 billion annually on weight-loss products and services. At any given time, 45 percent of women and 30 percent of men in the United States are trying to lose weight. And yet Americans are more out of shape than ever. Obesity is a major health risk in the United States, where 65 percent of adults are overweight. The prevalence of obesity rose from 14.5 percent in 1980 to 30.5 percent today. The percentage of children who are overweight is at an all-time high: 10.4 percent of two- to five-year-olds, 15.3 percent of six- to 11-year-olds, and 15.5 percent of 12- to 19-year-olds. Misinformation Remember the food pyramid? In 1982, government authorities told Americans to reduce fat consumption from 40 percent to 30 percent of daily intake—and we took their advice. Instead of fats, Americans began eating more carbohydrates: an increase of 57 grams per person from…

Read the full story

State Senator Jim Tracy Appointed to USDA Position by Trump Administration

Tennessee Star Staff

State Senator Jim Tracy (R-Shelbyville) was appointed to a position with the U.S. Department of Agriculture by the Trump administration on Friday. Tracy was named as the new USDA Rural Development State Director for Tennessee by Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue. “U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue today announced a slate of Farm Service Agency (FSA) and Rural Development (RD) State Directors, all serving as appointees of President Donald J. Trump. FSA State Directors help implement U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) policies in planning, organizing, and administering FSA programs in their respective states. They are also responsible for running the day-to-day activities of the state FSA office. Similarly, RD State Directors work to help improve the economy and quality of life in rural America,” the USDA said in a press statement released late on Friday: “These state directors will help ensure that USDA is offering the best customer service to our farmers, ranchers, foresters, and agricultural producers across the country,” Secretary Perdue said. “FSA and RD both play a critical role in helping the people of agriculture, and are able to connect with people in their home states. They are the initial points of contact for millions of our USDA…

Read the full story