Tag: USDA

More than 300 USDA meat inspectors sidelined by coronavirus

Some 197 tested positive for the disease; 120 more are under quarantine.

More than 300 federal meatpacking inspectors are either sick from coronavirus or in self-quarantine after exposure to the virus.

As of Tuesday, 197 inspectors from the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) had tested positive for the virus, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said. Another 120 employees are under quarantine. A union reported three inspectors have died from the virus.

The agency has about 8,000 employees. Continue reading.

USDA under pressure as food safety concerns grow

The Hill logoThe U.S. Department of Agriculture (UDSA) is facing growing pressure to ensure the safety of the nation’s food supply during the coronavirus outbreak.

Experts who spoke to The Hill stressed that the food supply was safe now. But they also pointed to growing challenges for the USDA as food industry workers fall sick and inspectors scramble for limited resources, questioning whether officials responsible for food supply safety are ready for the task at hand.

Experts noted that the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service has recalled only one product over the last two months. On Feb. 8, a product from Family Traditions Meat Company was recalled due to misbranding. But there were no other recalls until April 10, when the USDA recalled chicken bowls from Conagra Brands over possible foreign matter contamination and pork products from Jowett Farms for missing some inspections.  Continue reading.

As climate reckoning arrives over agriculture, USDA’s scientists face censorship

With this week’s IPCC report set to take a hard line on agriculture, USDA could see heightened scrutiny.

A government climate scientist who says the Trump administration buried a groundbreaking report he authored has left the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in protest over the “political views” top officials allegedly imposed on his work.

Politico reported Monday that Lewis Ziska, a plant physiologist who worked at USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) for more than 20 years, quit due to an increasingly political atmosphere at the agency. Ziska had worked on a major rice study last year, one that found rising levels of carbon dioxide could imperil the critical source of sustenance for some 600 million people globally. According to Ziska’s work, the mineral and protein content in rice, along with key vitamins, is expected to drop as greenhouse gas levels rise.

Agency scientists have accused department officials of seeking to bury that report, among others, in keeping with President Donald Trump’s stance denying and downplaying climate change. USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue has similarly dismissedglobal warming as “weather patterns.”

View the complete August 5 article by E.A. Crunden on the ThinkProgress website here.

Trump’s Expected Pick for Top USDA Scientist Is Not a Scientist

The following article by Jessica Huseman was posted on the ProPublica website May 12, 2017:

Sam Clovis likely to be named undersecretary of the USDA department that manages research on everything from climate change to nutrition.

Sam Clovis speaks during a news conference with Donald Trump ahead of a rally in Dubuque, Iowa on Aug. 25, 2015. (Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The USDA’s research section studies everything from climate change to nutrition. Under the 2008 Farm Bill, its leader is supposed to serve as the agency’s “chief scientist” and be chosen “from among distinguished scientists with specialized or significant experience in agricultural research, education, and economics.”

But Sam Clovis — who, according to sources with knowledge of the appointment and members of the agriculture trade press, is President Trump’s pick to oversee the section — appears to have no such credentials. Continue reading “Trump’s Expected Pick for Top USDA Scientist Is Not a Scientist”

USDA abruptly purges animal welfare information from its website

The following article by Karen Brulliard was posted on the Washington Post website February 3, 2017:

(Gerry Broome/AP)

The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Friday abruptly removed inspection reports and other information from its website about the treatment of animals at thousands of research laboratories, zoos, dog breeding operations and other facilities.

In a statement, the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service cited court rulings and privacy laws for the decision, which it said was the result of a “comprehensive review” that took place over the past year. It said the removed documents, which also included records of enforcement actions against violators of the Animal Welfare Act and the Horse Protection Act, would now be accessible only via Freedom of Information Act Requests. Those can take years to be approved. Continue reading “USDA abruptly purges animal welfare information from its website”