Word: usda
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...story begins with an inane definition promulgated long ago by an Agriculture Department still too cozy with the very industries it was charged with overseeing. Despite an immutable scientific fact -- the freezing point of poultry has been 26 degrees F since the beginning of time -- the USDA said birds frozen all the way down to 0 degrees could be labeled and sold as "fresh." In 1988 Perdue complained, and some courageous USDA bureaucrats tried to right matters. From then on, they proposed, only chickens whose internal temperature had never fallen below 26 degrees could be sold as fresh...
...Federal rules, said a frustrated U.S. appeals court, pre-empt state laws. "We affirm this absurdity," the judges wrote. "Congress has given federal bureaucrats the power to order that frozen chickens be labeled fresh." The Clinton Administration promised to review the issue promptly. That pledge, as an internal USDA memo reveals, was little more than a public-relations exercise designed to cover an "embarrassing" policy that "puts the USDA in the position of being anti-consumer." A press release was issued in February 1994, and the inquiry languished. But now, with the 1996 election looming (and California's 54 electoral...
...Several members are especially deserving of praise. Hasty Pudding Vice President Aaron Zelman '95, who plays Ms. Western, makes a convincing cow. He sings a stirring and hysterical medley of songs, ranging from "It had to be moo," through "Like a bovine, milked for the very first time," to "USDA" (the latter sung to the tune of the Village People's "YMCA...
...wonder that usually taciturn agronomists and economists turn lyrical over the continuing capacity of this nation to astound itself with the production of staples. "It is just truly remarkable that farmers could bounce back from the floods and replenish the coffers like this," says Keith Collins, the USDA's chief economist. The exuberant poet-farmer Michael Carey of Farragut, Iowa, says it this...
...years, as the incidence of food-borne illnesses has steadily increased, the USDA has proved virtually impervious to criticism. But microbes are changing all the time, becoming more virulent. "We must reduce the bacteria load as much as practically possible," says public-health expert Menning. "People are getting sick every day and dying. Most people can tolerate pathogenic exposure. The young and elderly cannot. There will be a massive food poisoning. And today an outbreak could affect so many people because of the concentration of industry." It will be up to the person Clinton appoints as Espy's successor...