"USDA" news and stories

Consumers who have been worried about the enforcement of federal organic food regulations under the George W. Bush administration -- and the stringency of the regulations themselves -- may now have less cause for worry, according to a piece just published in the Washington Post. With Walmart and other big retailers going organic, food labeled "organic" has become big business, with sales of over $24 billion per year.

On February 12, the United States Department of Agriculture published new rules governing the pasturage of livestock whose meat and milk receives organic certification. Previously, these animals only had to have "access to pasturage" -- a regulation so loose as to be virtually meaningless. Now, that ambiguous phrase has been strictly defined: Animals must be permitted to graze at least four months out of the year, and receive 30 percent of their sustenance from that source during those periods.

• More acidic oceans, a consequence of rising atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, can produce jumbo-size shelled marine species, including lobsters, crabs, and shrimp.
• In other CO2 news, Max Burger restaurant in central Stockholm claims to be the first restaurant chain in the world to publish carbon dioxide emissions on its menu.
• Congress will get a school lunch next week when the USDA will serve them chicken fajita strips, sliced ham and canned green beans, the same products the agency gives schools across the country.
• Woman caught on a hidden camera sneaking into a New York apartment by coming in through a crawlspace and raiding the pantry. Resident believes she had been secretly living there for weeks.
• Ganja Gourmet becomes first marijuana restaurant to open. It's located in Colorado, where medicinal marijuana is legal.
• Memorabilia from the bankrupt restaurant Tavern on the Green will be auctioned Jan. 13-14. Items will include the Central Park restaurant's crystal chandeliers, silver candelabras, stone sculptures and other decorative items.
• Finally, Food & Wine has compiled lists of the best airport dining spots and the best places to dine out during the holidays, including Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix.

• Contrary to popular belief, Champagne prices are apparently dropping; here's how to buy.
• If beer is more your style, here are some suggestions for what to pair with your Thanksgiving dinner.
• And turkey basics from the USDA allow for more drink and less think next Thursday.
• A columnist offers three steps to "fool-proof" gravy.
• Local chefs share their favorite Thanksgiving recipes.
• The Pacific Northwest Cheese Project, a blog about local cheeses, is now a book.
• The Thomas Street Bistro runs more like a dinner party than a restaurant.

Just as Southeastern oyster producers are clamoring for the government to stay out of their business, catfish farmers have launched a new ad campaign asking for more regulation of their industry.

"All catfish should be treated equally!," proclaims the Catfish Farmers of America's full-page ad targeting the USDA. The trade group's ads began appearing late last month in major publications, including the Washington Post.

Catfish farmers contend imported seafood should be held to the same stringent standards now applied to imported beef, poultry and pork. Unlike those commodities, which are inspected by the USDA, imported seafood is the domain of the FDA. According to government reports, only 2 percent of the 5.2 billion pounds of seafood that entered the U.S. last year was inspected.

"People are taking it for granted that everything's inspected, and they need to know what's going on," CFA president Joey Lowery says. "This is something that shouldn't even be negotiable, food safety for the American people."

Growers in the nation's southernmost commercial apple-producing region are fighting a change in crop insurance law, which they claim could wipe out a 200-year-old industry.

Henderson County, N.C. -- a stretch of Southern Appalachia where the first apple trees were planted by a Loyalist on the run from the Revolutionary Army -- today generates about $24 million in annual apple revenue, representing 85 percent of the state's apple crop. But the region's 150-plus growers have been hard hit in recent years by calamities including frost, wind and hail.

"You name it, it's happened," sighs Agricultural Extension agent Marvin Owings.

Owings credits the Federal Crop Insurance Program, which reimburses growers for lost apples at a rate of $9.25 a bushel, with keeping area orchards solvent. He's worried a new proposal to significantly lower disaster payouts for lesser-grade apples could prove devastating.