"usda" news and stories

In the bubbling debate between genetically modified foods and organic ones, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack reportedly called for a truce in an open letter released just before the clocks struck 2011. Agricultural resolution? Not so easy, Tom.

"Complexity surrounds American agriculture today," he begins. True. By the end of 2010, federal courts had barred use of Monsanto's Roundup Ready alfalfa, even though planting continued while the USDA kept working on its Environmental Impact Statement [EIS] on the genetically engineered (GE) crop, which it completed two weeks prior to Vilsack's letter. A federal court in San Francisco ordered removal of a test plot of GE sugar beets. And the Food and Drug Administration remained indecisive over approval of GE salmon, the would-be first genetically engineered animal, which may or may not be labeled.

Vilsack doesn't appear to be pro or con for either but believes the two can cohabit. "As a regulatory agency, sound science and decisions based on this science are our priority, and science strongly supports the safety of GE alfalfa," he writes.

All you pro-organics who just felt a scrunch in your brow, follow this next line: "But agricultural issues are always complex and rarely lend themselves to simple solutions. Therefore, we have an obligation to carefully consider USDA's 2,300-page EIS, which acknowledges the potential of cross-fertilization to non-GE alfalfa."

A non-GE farmer can hope.

More than 34,000 pounds of organic ground beef has been recalled by California-based First Class Foods because of a possibility of contamination with E. coli 0157:H7, the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service reported. The beef is sold under the "Nature's Harvest" and "Organic Harvest" labels, and was shipped to stores in California, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Washington State. (The meat was produced on 12/7/10 and 12/16/10).

The recall began on December 30, when the company discovered a positive result for E.coli O157:H7 after an internal sampling of the beef products. No illness has been reported so far.

Specific products include 16-ounce packages of Nature's Harvest Organic Ground Beef Brick, Organic Harvest Organic Ground Beef Brick, and Nature's Harvest Ground Patty.

For more information, see the FSIS press release, or contact First Class Foods at www.firstclassfoods.com.

The first nutrition labels entered our supermarkets in 1993, with the exemption of meat. That was left up to the producers to decide if they felt like stamping their product with calories, sodium, fat, saturated fat and protein percentages. Instead, you'll find things like "70% lean meat," but who knows what that means?

Wednesday morning, the USDA enacted new mandatory rules that will require ground, chopped and whole cuts of beef, poultry, pork and lamb to display complete nutrition information beginning on January 1, 2012. Chopped and ground meat will need to bear the label right on the package, while whole cuts need to have the facts displayed on a counter or at the point of purchase. Small producers -- those on a single facility, producing less than 100,000 pounds annually -- will only need to provide information for whole cuts, which will be available upon request or online with no burdensome fee for these small businesses.

USA Today got an early look at the labels and notes that "a 4-ounce serving of regular ground beef that is 73% lean meat contains 350 calories, 270 of them from fat, according to the USDA, making up 60% of the suggested daily intake of saturated fat in a 2,000-calorie diet."

Are we surprised by the numbers? The full report can be viewed at the Federal Register.

And see our story "Where's the Good Beef?" for recent news on labels for meat produced from humanely raised animals.

Cleveland is planting seeds to counter the serious problems of obesity, food deserts and urban blight, thanks in part to a $1.1 million pilot program to fund the Cleveland Urban Agriculture Incubator Project, which was announced Wednesday.

According to The Cleveland Plain Dealer, the pilot program will start with six acres of inner-city lots, grown by 20 residents from the Kinsman neighborhood. The urban farming project is being supported by the USDA, the City of Cleveland, the Ohio Department of Agriculture and the Ohio State University Extension Service. With approximately 3,300 acres of vacant land in the city, the Cleveland Leader says the project will be the largest urban agriculture district in the country.

Deputy U.S. Agriculture Secretary Kathleen Merrigan was on hand for the announcement, and said the administration is also working to address the problem of urban food deserts by testing mobile groceries and food carts, and by working with more grocery stores.

The fledgling urban farmers will receive training and a quarter acre of land. They're expected to begin planting in April. Produce will then be sold to local schools and restaurants, and at area farmers markets. Officials say the soil will be tested both for safety and to determine what crops will grow best. The program is expected to expand to an additional 20 acres in the future.

Even if you don't follow big agriculture as closely as Eric Schlosser or Michael Pollan might, we're pretty sure that at some point in the last few years you've recoiled at brutal undercover footage of poultry workers stomping chickens to death, or cringed watching sick cattle being prodded on their way to slaughter. The images, captured by groups like The Humane Society of the United States or PETA, reflect a disturbing reality for some of the animals we raise for meat in our country, and have helped propel issues of humane handling and greater food safety much closer to our dinner tables.

Now the government is hoping meat and poultry producers might choose to do some videotaping of their own.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued draft guidelines designed to help producers implement in-plant video monitoring as a way to improve operations. Federally inspected processing plants may chose to use video or other electronic recording equipment "for various purposes including ensuring that livestock are handled humanely, that good commercial practices are followed, monitoring product inventory, or conducting establishment security," according to the release.

Farmed-animal welfare advocate, Dr. Temple Grandin, is supportive of video monitoring in meat processing plants.