Tag Archives: USDA

The Guardian reports: Staff at the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) have been told to avoid using the term climate change in their work, with the officials instructed to reference “weather extremes” instead. A series of emails obtained by the Guardian between staff at the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), a USDA unit that oversees farmers’ land conservation, show that …

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, who as Georgia governor once held a public prayer vigil for rain, has responded to Trump’s recent religious liberty executive order by issuing a letter authorizing USDA-inspected plants to post any anti-LGBT materials they like. Perdue’s edict likely arises from the case of the West Michigan Beef Company, whose CEO Don Vander Boon reacted to the …

The Hill reports: Newly minted Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue is expected to unveil a new rule Monday aimed at giving schools more flexibility in meeting federal nutrition standards for school lunches. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced Friday that Perdue and Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) will make the announcement at the Catoctin Elementary School in Leesburg, Va., where they …

Buzzfeed reports: The US Department of Agriculture has banned scientists and other employees in its main research division from publicly sharing everything from the summaries of scientific papers to USDA-branded tweets as it starts to adjust to life under the Trump administration, BuzzFeed News has learned. According to an email sent Monday morning and obtained by BuzzFeed News, the department …

The US Department Of Agriculture and the National Center for Lesbian Rights will hold a Rural Pride event in Jackson, Mississippi on August 14th.   #RuralPride is a series of summits across the country to elevate the voices of LGBT people and families in rural communities, explore how these communities are particularly vulnerable, and discuss proposed and enacted federal policy changes …

Nestle USA has issued a recall for its Hot Pockets Philly Steak & Cheese product because the USDA says almost nine million pounds of meat might have come from diseased animals. Rancho Feeding Corporation, a Petaluma, Calif. establishment, is recalling approximately 8,742,700 pounds, because it processed diseased and unsound animals and carried out these activities without the benefit or full …

The nation’s fourth-ever case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy has been found in California. The carcass was at a Baker Commodities Inc. rendering facility in Hanford, California, according to Executive Vice President Dennis Luckey. The company renders animal byproducts and had randomly selected the animal for testing last Wednesday, he said. “We are in the business of removing dead animals from …

Conservative website mogul and GOProud backer Andrew Breitbart is being sued by former USDA official Shirley Sherrod for his campaign to falsely discredit her. Via Salon: The suit stems from the notorious video Breitbart posted online last year, showing an out-of-context excerpt from a speech Sherrod gave to the NAACP Freedom Fund in March 2010. The clip suggested she had …

In response to the lawsuit contending that they don’t use what the USDA defines as “beef” in their products, Taco Bell has taken the unusual step of mocking the suit with a series of retro superhero cartoons, a move NPR finds surprisingly amusing. (Tipped by JMG reader David)

Taco Bell has been hit with a lawsuit which claims that what the company describes as “ground beef” does not meet the USDA’s definition. The suit claims that Taco Bell’s meat-like offering is filled with extenders and other non-meat substances listed in the lawsuit like water, “Isolated Oat Product,” wheat oats, soy lecithin, maltodrextrin, anti-dusting agent, autolyzed yeast extract, modified …

Via the USDA’s Food Environment Atlas. Lots more maps at the link.