Tag Archives: USDA

NPR reports: A coalition of 20 states and Washington, D.C. announced a new lawsuit Monday against the U.S. Department of Agriculture after the federal agency told states to turn over the detailed, personal information of food assistance applicants and their household members. The USDA has told states they have until July 30 to turn over data about all applicants to …

NewsNation reports: A Massachusetts food producer is recalling more than 24,000 pounds of ready-to-eat chicken sausage products that may be contaminated with materials like plastic. The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the recall on July 17. Kayem Foods Inc. out of Massachusetts is recalling 24,173 pounds of chicken sausage products as …

“Lori Chavez-DeRemer is our Secretary of Labor. And the H2A visa program, all of the programs that ensure to moving in seasonal ag workers are under Secretary Chavez-DeRemer. She has been working around the clock with her team. But I can’t underscore enough. There will be no amnesty. The mass deportations continue, but in a strategic way, and we move …

The Washington Post reports: A decades-old rule protecting tens of millions of acres of pristine national forest land, including 9 million acres in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest, would be rescinded under plans announced Monday by the Trump administration. Speaking at a meeting of Western governors in New Mexico, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said the administration would begin the process of …

Reuters reports: U.S. Dietary Guidelines are expected to eliminate the long-standing recommendation that adults limit alcohol consumption to one or two drinks per day, according to three sources familiar with the matter, in what could be a major win for an industry threatened by heightened scrutiny of alcohol’s health effects. The updated Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which could be released …

“Ignore the noise from the fake news media and the grifters trying to divide us. I fully support President Trump’s America First immigration agenda as stated in his campaign, starting with strong border security and deportations of EVERY illegal alien. “This agenda is essential to fixing a broken farm-labor economy and restoring integrity to the American workforce. “The President and …

Fox News reports: A public health alert has been issued for organic ground beef products that reportedly could be contaminated with E. coli, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has announced. The alert, issued by FSIS, applies to some Organic Rancher products distributed to Whole Foods Market locations nationwide. Here’s what to check for: 1-pound …

The Wall Street Journal reports: Cattle futures, wholesale beef cutout prices, and retail prices are all soaring heading into the summer months. The average cost of one pound of ground beef reached a record-high of $5.80 in April, according to numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That is up nearly 50% from five years ago. On the CME, live cattle …

Axios reports: Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced the suspension of live cattle, horse and bison imports via the southern border “due to the continued and rapid northward spread” of New World Screwworm (NWS) in Mexico, effective immediately. This parasitic worm species’ infestation “occurs when NWS fly larvae infest the tissue or flesh of warm-blooded animals; on rare occasions this includes …

NPR reports: The Department of Agriculture is demanding states hand over personal data of food assistance recipients — including Social Security numbers, addresses and, in at least one state, citizenship status. The sweeping and unprecedented request comes as the Trump administration ramps up the collection and consolidation of Americans’ sensitive data, and as that data has been used to make …

Politico reports: At least 15,000 Agriculture Department employees have taken the Trump administration’s offers to resign, according to a readout of a USDA briefing with congressional staff that was shared with POLITICO. The departures represent a drastic contraction of a department that handles a diverse portfolio including flagship federal nutrition programs, food safety, farm loans and rural broadband initiatives. While …

CBS News reports: The United States Department of Agriculture is withdrawing a rule proposed in August to help prevent food poisoning from poultry contaminated with salmonella. The Biden Administration effort, which had been in development for three years, would have required poultry companies to keep levels of salmonella bacteria under a certain threshold and test for the presence of six …

Politico reports: Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins’ $1 billion plan for fighting bird flu will rely on money cut from programs meant to help schools and food banks support local farmers, according to two people familiar with the discussions. Rollins in February rolled out a five-step strategy to fight bird flu that includes importing eggs and researching and developing a poultry …

The Portland Press Herald reports: Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration Monday challenging the USDA’s decision to withhold federal funds over Maine’s policy allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls high school sports. Frey’s office said funds withheld by the administration are used to feed children in schools, child care centers and after-school programming, …

Ars Technica reports: Before he was abruptly fired last month, Derek Copeland worked as a trainer at the US Department of Agriculture’s National Dog Detection Training Center, preparing beagles and Labrador retrievers to sniff out plants and animals that are invasive or vectors for zoonotic diseases, like swine fever. Before he received his termination notice, he says, Copeland had just …

Chapel Hill’s NPR affiliate reports: The State Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services received a letter from the United States Department of Agriculture earlier this month stating it will no longer receive funding for the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program. The nonprofit Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina is one of seven food banks that receives funding through …

Courthouse News reports: A coalition of farmers sued the Trump administration Thursday to lift an indefinite freeze of billions of dollars in funding for programs created under the Inflation Reduction Act. In the suit, brought in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the farmers challenge President Donald Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order “Unleashing American Energy,” which placed …

Politico reports: The Agriculture Department has axed two programs that gave schools and food banks money to buy food from local farms and ranchers, halting more than $1 billion in federal spending. Roughly $660 million that schools and child care facilities were counting on to purchase food from nearby farms through the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program in …

Reuters reports: The U.S. Department of Agriculture has eliminated two committees that advise it on food safety, the agency said on Friday, raising concerns about government oversight of the food supply as the Trump administration seeks to downsize the federal bureaucracy and slash costs. The USDA eliminated the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods and the National Advisory …

Breitbart reports: U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Brooke Rollins told Breitbart News exclusively that President Donald Trump’s administration will be focusing its egg price reduction efforts on repopulation of chickens and on biosecurity measures, and that the administration is now ruling out any vaccines for animals against avian bird flu. Rollins broke down key planks of the administration’s billion-dollar …