"usda" news and stories

Hoping to significantly reduce the number of the most serious food-related recalls, the U.S. Department of Agriculture proposed new regulations this week aimed at the nation's meat processors.

As often happens in these sorts of situations, it's not until new regulations are proposed that the rest of us (a.k.a. the happy-go-lucky meat-buying public) start to understand just how unprotected we'd been up until now, kind of like that cartoon character that sleepwalks onto a tightrope, only to wake up and see the Grand Canyon yawning beneath him.

Currently, meat processors large and small are required to test their products for nasty bugs like E. coli, Listeria and Salmonella, but seemingly contrary to common sense, they can go ahead and send their tested meat to market without waiting for the test results.

Huh?

It may not be time to make an omelet a day, but eggs are more nutritious and less cholesterol-laden than they used to be, says a new USDA report. According to a Fox News report, a random sample of eggs from across the U.S. found that "the average large egg has 14 percent less cholesterol than earlier surveys and 64 percent more vitamin D."

The cause, says the report, may be from enriched chicken feed and new breeding techniques.

Good news for egg lovers, but keep in mind that the recommended daily allowance for cholesterol is 300 milligrams, and one egg has 185. Go easy, scrambled fans.

Last week the updated USDA food map was released, detailing our country's food environment by county -- who has better local food, more farmer's markets, better availability to grocery stores? What are people eating most per capita in each county? How much food assistance are we getting? And who goes out to restaurants more? It's all right here.

The updated tool is part of First Lady Michelle Obama's initiative to end childhood obesity, reports the Washington Post. And it's a treasure chest of information. According to the map, Oakland County, Michigan, had 983 fast food restaurants in 2009, and 1,042 in 2010. In 2009, Minnesota's Hennepin county had 15 farmers markets -- and by 2010, they had 39. Impressive. That's more than San Diego, which lost 7 percent of its farmers markets over the same time. Washington Post contributor Jennifer LaRue Huget spent an hour on the site and found some interesting facts about Montgomery County, Maryland, where she was born. Among other statistics, she discovered that in 2006, residents there consumed 230 pounds of produce per capita at home and 320 in prepared foods.

You can search by state or see the entire country lit up in color-coded categories. And the data is seemingly endless -- you can investigate anything from how far households are from the nearest grocery store to how many stores accept Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Lose a very investigative hour of your own at USDA.gov.

There's a new eco label coming out this spring to address products -- like water bottles and grocery bags -- made with bio-based ingredients (primarily corn), which decompose instead of requiring recycling: "USDA Certified Biobased Product."

Totally Green, for example, produces a corn-based water bottle that can be composted along with other food waste, and plans to use the label as soon as it is released, reports the Des Moines Register. Unfortunately, compostable chip bags never caught on thanks to their insanely loud crinkling, but these water bottles have no noise issues, so perhaps they'll have better luck.

Cotton and wool products won't apply because the program is intended to support the agricultural commodity market. That being corn, of course. Look for the label on anything from dish soap bottles to skin-care products. Will you make the switch?

Vegetarians who thought no one was on their side will be happy to know that a group of doctors are going to bat for a meat-free alternative to the food pyramid.

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) filed suit with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) -- who drafts the country's official food pyramid, MyPyramid -- after it ignored their petition offering a vegetarian alternative called the Power Plate, reports the Chicago Tribune. They say the USDA is blind to the rising rates in obesity and diabetes, which became common after the first pyramid was presented almost two decades ago. But they don't just want a supplemental vegetarian pyramid; they want to withdraw the old and instate theirs.

The Power Plate, available here on the PCRM site, has no portion recommendations and instead simply advises getting an equal balance of fruits, grains, legumes and vegetables, which are divided equally on a plate-shaped graph that looks more like a company logo than a guide.