US Department of Agriculture

Districts Look To Debt Collectors, Stricter Policies, For Unpaid Lunches

Posted 05.15.2012

Read More: School Meals, School Lunch Debt, Healthy School Lunches, Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act, Free Lunch, School Lunches, Free and Reduced Price Lunches, Usda, School Lunch, US Department of Agriculture, Free Lunches, Education News

Americans are likely hearing from debt collectors more in recent years than in the past, but a practice that may become even more common: debt collect...

Read Whole Story

Warren Buffett's Son Fights Rural Hunger

AP | JOHN FLESHER | Posted 04.19.2012

Read More: Archer Daniels Midland Co., Farming, Economic Downturn, Video, Poverty, Food Banks, Rural America, Invest an Acre, Warren Buffett, Howard G. Buffett, Feeding America, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Business News

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. -- Farmer and philanthropist Howard G. Buffett, son of billionaire investor Warren Buffett, wants to enlist fellow food producers...

Read Whole Story

175 Chickens in One Minute?!

Craig McCord | Posted 04.12.2012

Read More: Chicken Industry, Chicken, Agriculture, Poultry, Food Inspection, Usda, Petitions, Food Health, US Department of Agriculture, Green News

Right now, the USDA inspectors inspect 35 chickens a minute for lovely things such as bile, feces and random spare parts that got through processing. That's a chicken every two seconds.

Read Post

Why The Simple School Lunch Burger Patty Has 26 Ingredients

Posted 04.06.2012

The school burger has gotten more than its share of the spotlight lately as parents set off a media firestorm in a rally to remove the controversial, ...

Read Whole Story

The Fracking Plot Thickens: Are Gas Leases on Thin Ice?

Kyle Rabin | Posted 05.28.2012

Read More: Elisabeth Radow, Natural Gas, Hydraulic Fracturing, Secretary Tom Vilsack, National Environmental Policy Act, Fracking, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Gas Lease, Green News

Most people would agree that fracking comes with an assortment of environmental risks given that it's a heavy industrial activity; in this case an activity that introduces hazardous substances into people's backyards. What's less clear is the regulatory and legal landscape.

Read Post

Schools Can Opt Out Of 'Pink Slime'

HuffingtonPost.com | Emmeline Zhao | Posted 03.15.2012

Read More: Pink Slime in Schools, School Meals, Video, Healthy School Lunches, Lean Beef Trimmings, School Lunches, Soylent Pink, Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act, Salmonella, Usda, Healthy School Meals, Pink Slime, US Department of Agriculture, E. Coli, Pink Slime Meat, Education News

"Pink slime" might soon have a leaner presence in public schools than many might have initially anticipated. The U.S. Department of Agriculture an...

Read Whole Story

Schools Will Soon Be Able To Opt Out Of 'Pink Slime' Beef

AP | KATHY MATHESON | Posted 05.15.2012

Read More: Lean Finely Textured Beef, Ammonium Hydroxide, Video, Pink Slime Ground Beef, Food, Pink Slime, Usda, US Department of Agriculture, Pink-Slime-Beef-Products, Pink Slime Meat, Education News

PHILADELPHIA — The lunch lady won't be serving up "pink slime" anymore at several school districts around the country. Under a change announced...

Read Whole Story

Global Food Security: The Biggest Challenge for Our World

Richard Attias | Posted 05.14.2012

Read More: Yemen, Somalia, Unicef, Un, Global Food Security, US Department of Agriculture, Famine, Food Insecurity, Food Security, Impact News

As climate change affects weather patterns across the globe, and political tensions flare up, food security will become one of the most pressing issues for the world's leaders to deal with.

Read Post

Feds Buying 7 Million Pounds Of 'Pink Slime' For School Lunches

Posted 03.08.2012

Read More: Pink Slime in Schools, Video, School Meals, Healthy School Lunches, Lean Beef Trimmings, School Lunches, Soylent Pink, Salmonella, Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act, Pink Slime, Healthy School Meals, Usda, US Department of Agriculture, E. Coli, Pink Slime Meat, Education News

Pink slime -- that ammonia-treated meat in a bright Pepto-bismol shade -- may have been rejected by fast food joints like McDonald's, Taco Bell and Bu...

Read Whole Story

Student's Homemade Turkey Sandwich Taken For Nuggets Was Teacher's Mistake

AP | By EMERY DALESIO | Posted 02.17.2012

RALEIGH, N.C. -- It was a tale of government meddling that outraged radio talk show hosts and a pair of Congress members: A 4-year-old was forced to d...

Read Whole Story

Preschooler's Homemade Turkey Sandwich Replaced With Nuggets

Posted 04.16.2012

Read More: Michelle Obama, Healthy School Lunches, School Lunches, Usda Guidelines, Child Nutrition, School Nuggets, Child Health, School Meals, Jamie Oliver, Video, School Cafeteria, Student Health, North Carolina Schools, Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act, US Department of Agriculture, Chicken Nuggets, North Carolina, Education News

A preschool student at West Hoke Elementary School in North Carolina ended up eating three chicken nuggets for lunch two weeks ago -- because a state ...

Read Whole Story

Line Grows Long For Free Meals At U.S. Schools

The New York Times | Sam Dillon | Posted 01.30.2012

Read More: School Meals, Department of Education, Free School Meals, Free Lunch, School Lunches, Free School Lunches, Child Hunger, School Subsidized Lunches, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Subsidized Lunch Program, Education News

Millions of American schoolchildren are receiving free or low-cost meals for the first time as their parents, many once solidly middle class, have los...

Read Whole Story

Circus Slapped With Fine Over Animal-Welfare Violation

AP | Posted 11.29.2011

Read More: Disney on Ice, Tigers, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Video, Animal Welfare Act, Zebras, Elephants, Feld Entertainment, Ringling Bros. Circus, Fines, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Ringling Brothers Circus, Usda Feld, Green News

VIENNA, Va. -- VIENNA, Virginia (AP) – The owner of the Ringling Bros. circus has agreed to pay a $270,000 fine to settle allegations that it vi...

Read Whole Story

Do You Know Where Your Turkey's Been?

HuffingtonPost.com | Lynne Peeples | Posted 11.29.2011

Read More: Holidays, Green Holiday, Turkey, Thanksgiving, Factory Farms, The Infection Loop, Fda, Antibiotic Resistance, Organic Food, Mrsa, Superbugs, Turkey Antibiotics, Louise Slaughter, Antibiotics, Usda, Food and Drug Administration, US Department of Agriculture, Green News

As families across America adorn their dinner tables with plump, juicy turkeys this Thursday, they've likely given little thought to what their future...

Read Whole Story

School Soda Bans Don't Actually Keep Kids From Sugary Drinks

Posted 01.08.2012

Just banning soda from schools doesn't actually curb student consumption of sugary drinks, according to new research. Access to and student purchas...

Read Whole Story

Senate Votes To Save Potatoes In Schools

AP | By MARY CLARE JALONICK | Posted 12.19.2011

WASHINGTON -- The Senate threw its support behind the potato Tuesday, voting to block an Obama administration proposal to limit the vegetable on schoo...

Read Whole Story

Why This Could Be A Scene Of The Past

AP | By DAVID SHARP | Posted 11.26.2011

Read More: Ucla Center for Human Nutrition, School Lunch Funding, Potatoes, Nutrition, Health, School Lunches, School Lunch Potatoes, Potatoes in School, Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act, Childhood Nutrition, Usda, US Department of Agriculture, Starchy Foods, School Breakfasts, Education News

PORTLAND, Maine -- Sen. Susan Collins, who hails from Maine's potato country and picked potatoes as a girl, is working to restore some respect for the...

Read Whole Story

New Ways Kids Are Getting Meals When School's Out

AP | By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH | Posted 11.14.2011

Read More: Food Research and Action Center, Ymca, Reduced Price Lunches, Food, School Food, Usda, Kids Meals, US Department of Agriculture, Children's Health, School Food Programs, Summer Food Programs, Summer Meal Programs, Education News

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Food can be scarce around the Mendoza household during the summer. School food service worker Alina Mendoza loses most of her hour...

Read Whole Story

U.S. Injects More Money Into High-Speed Internet Plan

Posted 10.22.2011

Read More: Broadband, Broadband Internet, Rural Broadband, Rural America, Federal Communications Commission, u.s. Rural Broadband, High Speed Internet, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Technology News

MICHAEL FELBERBAUM, AP/THE HUFFINGTON POST (RICHMOND, Va.) -- Telecommunications companies in 16 states will share more than $103 million in federal f...

Read Whole Story

National Weather Services Predicts Onslaught Of Biggest Floods In Over A Decade

AP | By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS | Posted 08.02.2011

Read More: National Guard, Snow Melt, Grand Coulee Dam, Flood Worries for Colorado, Snow Pac, Randy Julander, West Flood Worries, Wyoming, Denver News, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Colorado-Record-Snowpack, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Colorado Record Snowpack, Denver News

GRAND COULEE DAM, Wash. -- The giant concrete dams of the Pacific Northwest are overflowing with water. Wyoming has deployed National Guard troops to ...

Read Whole Story

No Quick Subsidies Fix for Food System

Wenonah Hauter | Posted 06.04.2011

Read More: Factory Farms, Farming, Farm Subsidies, Subsidies, Farm Bill, Agriculture Subsidies, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 2012 Farm Bill, Food News

From chefs and policy wonks to teachers and bloggers, everyone interested in food has an opinion on subsidies and how to craft the 2012 Farm Bill.

Read Post

Time To Stop Lacing Our Chicken Feed With Arsenic?

Grist | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Factory Farms, Chicken Farms, Arsenic, Chickens, US Department of Agriculture, Iatp, Epa, Arsenic in Chicken Feed, Food News

As a jaded observer of the meat industry, even I'm flummoxed by this fact: It's standard practice on factory chicken farms to dose those unfortunate b...

Read Whole Story

Bittman: Why Aren't G.M.O. Foods Labeled?

Mark Bittman in the New York Times | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Genetically Modified Food, Gmos, Food and Drug Administration, US Department of Agriculture, Mark Bittman, Genetically Engineered Foods, Food Labels, Food News

If you want to avoid sugar, aspartame, trans-fats, MSG, or just about anything else, you read the label. If you want to avoid G.M.O.'s -- genetically ...

Read Whole Story

Food Prices Causing Unrest As World Governments React

Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Business News, Rising Food Prices, China Rising Food Prices, US Department of Agriculture, Korea Food Prices, Food Prices, Business News

BEIJING/SEOUL (By Niu Shuping, Tom Miles and Kim Yeonhee) - China dumped plans to import several million tonnes of expensive corn in 2011 and South Ko...

Read Whole Story

Will Killing This Invasive Plant Harm Bees?

AP | DAVID RUNK | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Animals, Bees, Beekeepers, Knapweed, Invasive Plants, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Green News

DETROIT — An effort to fight an invasive plant with insects that eat it has drawn opposition from beekeepers who worry it will leave them withou...

Read Whole Story