Tag Archives: Department Of Agriculture
Caffeinated Beef Jerky is New Energy Food
The first performance-enhancing meat product is now available for those looking for a little pick-me-up. Perky Jerky is an invigorating product that combines premium strips of peppered beef with a boost of caffeine. Each package contains roughly the same amount of caffeine as found in two cans of an energy drink. With just 90 calories and [...]
Full StoryBeef Grading System Determines Market Price
Blame it all on Christopher Columbus. Legend has it that the famous explorer brought cattle with him on his second voyage to the New World in 1493. Thus began America’s love affair with beef.
Whether your preference is filet mignon or plain ol’ hamburgers, red-blooded Americans love their red meat. Beef is the meat of choice [...]
Farm Sanctuary Issues Report about Food Labels
Founded in 1986, Farm Sanctuary is a tireless advocate for the humane treatment of animals. Their goal is to end cruelty to farm animals and promotes compassionate living through rescue, education and advocacy. Over the years, they have lobbied vigorously for cruelty prevention laws and have been instrumental in helping pass legislation protecting animals from [...]
Full StoryWhite House Farmer’s Market Opens Today
U.S. Department of Agriculture undersecretary Ann Wright announced the opening of the White House Farmer’s Market slated to begin today, Thursday, September 17. The announcement was made at the Chefs Collaborative conference in Chicago Tuesday.
Eighteen farmers and producers will set up the market outside the White House grounds, north of Lafayette Park, on Vermont Avenue [...]
Future of National Animal Identification System Unclear
How much do you know about the National Animal Identification System? Probably not that much, unless you’re involved with livestock or meat or dairy production. NAIS is another possibly useful but poorly managed and controversial program under the auspices of the United States Department of Agriculture. We all know how well they manage other aspects [...]
Full StoryFarms Fight Recession With Miniature Cows
The recession has forced everyone to scale back, even farmers. The cost of animal feed and access to grasslands didn’t use to be major considerations for farmers, but today “there’s little room for inefficiency on a modern farm, and that has led some farmers to consider minicows”. Mini Jerseys can still provide 2 to 3 [...]
Full StoryEggs at Stake in McDonald’s Future
McDonald’s is coming under fire again for doing something good … sort of.
The fast-food hamburger chain just announced that it is joining a large-scale study of housing alternatives for egg-laying hens in the United States, including cage-free housing. The research is being conducted under the auspices of Michigan State University and the University of California [...]
The Dating Game – Food Dating, That Is
With all the recent news and discussions about potentially tainted food products, consumers are paying more attention to the dates stamped on various fresh, canned and frozen items and wondering what it all means. Does a container of yogurt automatically turn into a toxic substance the day after the date stamped on the side? Will [...]
Full StoryContaminated Spinach In Wisconsin
The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection has warned consumers that 10-ounce bags of Kleen-Pak curly-leaf fresh spinach with use-by dates of April 29, April 30 and May 1, have tested positive for salmonella.
Kleen-Pak spinach is distributed by a Milwaukee food processor throughout Wisconsin and Illinois. The 10-ounce bags of fresh spinach were [...]
Our Fractured Food Safety System – What You Need To Know
A newly released study by public health experts reveals a clumsy, bunglesome and fractured food safety system lacking in federal leadership.
“We need one food safety system, not 50,” said Joseph Corby, executive director of the Association of Food and Drug Officials. “State and local agencies do 2.5 million inspections a year, analyze hundreds of thousands [...]
Is Your Pantry Contaminated?
Researchers from the Rutgers University Food Policy Institute found that only 60 percent of Americans search their homes for recalled food products that may be contaminated. Many of them believe they are less likely than others to have purchased tainted products and only 10 percent said they had ever found something on the recall list.
“Getting consumers [...]
The Mysteries Surrounding Cooked vs. Raw Food
I find the on-going debate regarding raw versus cooked food interesting — so does science, apparently, which explains why two European research teams have simulated the stomach in an artificial environment in order to observe what happens to food as it digests. One team headed by Professor Paul Singh at UC Davis, has a stomach [...]
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