The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) released its latest summary of the Pesticide Data Program (PDP) last month. In its 21st annual summary of the program, the AMS stated that for the calendar year 2011 overall pesticide residues found on foods tested were below the maximum legal residue levels set by the… Continue Reading
The United States currently leads the world in food production; but in order for this to remain true, the government must invest more in agricultural research, says a committee of the nation’s leading scientists and technology experts in a new report to the president. The document, issued Friday by the President’s Council of Advisors on… Continue Reading
It’s a green light for food safety from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 2012 specialty crop grants, with 8.4 percent of the total number of grants going to food safety projects – among them research, education, training and initiatives. The focus of many of these grants is directed toward smaller-scale farms. Specialty crops are defined by… Continue Reading
Opinion
In May, I wrote a column in this space suggesting that through its successful lobbying to “zero out” funding for the Microbiological Data Program in the fiscal year 2013 budget, that big fruit and vegetable lobby had blood on its hands. At the time, friends thought it was a little bit overboard–even for me. Events… Continue Reading
Public testing for pathogens like E. coli, Salmonella and Listeria on fresh produce will drop by more than 80 percent if a key U.S. Department of Agriculture testing program is eliminated, according to an analysis by Food Safety News. The USDA’s Microbiological Data Program was zeroed out in the Obama administration’s 2013 budget request and… Continue Reading
On the heels of Dole’s announcement that the company is recalling nearly 800 bags of lettuce after Salmonella was detected by state health officials conducting random sampling in New York state, U.S. PIRG (the federation of State Public Interest Research Groups) is chastising a plan to cut the nation’s largest produce testing program. “The Agriculture… Continue Reading
In discussions about government and agriculture, attention tends to focus on issues such as the billions spent on commodity supports. But the Agriculture Marketing Service (AMS) – a branch of the USDA – has a program within the farm bill that sends money to growers a little more local. The Farmers Market Promotion Program (FMPP)… Continue Reading
In revising a plan that had been criticized by consumer groups and others, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has proposed a program to establish a voluntary, national marketing agreement to set safety standards and regulate the handling of leafy green vegetables. The USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) released an outline Tuesday of the program,… Continue Reading
The U.S. government’s “right hand” was grading and okaying egg shipments while its “left hand” was testing for and finding Salmonella contamination. And the right hand had no idea what the left hand was doing. That pretty well sums up the findings of USDA’s Inspector General, who was brought in to scrutinize the Nov…. Continue Reading
The science isn’t there to back up more stringent testing of meat purchased through the federal government’s ground beef purchase program–which provides beef to the National School Lunch Program–according to a report released by the National Academy of Sciences. The National Research Council report concluded that validated cooking processes would “provide greater assurance” than would… Continue Reading
The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) is getting help from an unlikely source—the Agricultural Marketing Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. AMS is the 5,500-employee unit of USDA charged with marketing America’s agricultural abundance. USDA’s marketing arm is sending over Leanne Skelton, chief of AMS’s Fresh Products Branch, for a six-month stint at… Continue Reading