Word: usda
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...tragedy that occurred in Hamlet is a direct result of 10 years of the Reagan-Bush philosophy of letting industry police itself," says Deborah E. Berkowitz, top safety expert for the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union. "There's a USDA inspector in every poultry plant to protect consumers from getting a stomachache, but there's nobody protecting people from getting killed...
...better reflect current nutritional knowledge, the USDA began redrawing the chart three years ago. The result: the "eating-right pyramid." While the new guide keeps the basic four food groups, it dramatically shifts the dietary balance. Cereals and grains, fruits and vegetables are stressed by being placed in the broad lower area of the pyramid; meat and dairy products occupy a narrower upper portion; and fats and sweets are consigned to the "use sparingly...
Consumer activists cite other instances that expose the USDA as industry's captive. New York University's Nestle relates how the department pressed for changes in the language of the 1988 Surgeon General's Report on Nutrition and Health, which she helped write. "It was very clear to me that the report was not going to say 'eat less meat.' " In fact, when the report came out in 1989, it advised the public only to "choose lean meats...
...also resisting some of the labeling reforms being pushed by the Food and Drug Administration. For instance, the FDA is insisting that manufacturers base their package labels and health claims on realistic-size servings, instead of impossibly small portions. But when it comes to some meat products, the USDA favors a serving size of just 1 oz., which would enable packagers to make low-fat claims. For the unwary shopper, the result could be that a can of USDA-regulated beef soup might falsely appear to have less fat than a can of FDA-regulated vegetable soup...
...standard, charges Gary Wilson of the National Cattlemen's Association, would mean that "you won't have any meat items being able to meet the criteria." Such an impossible standard would destroy the incentive for the meat industry to produce reduced-fat beef and pork, says Wilson, and the USDA is inclined to agree. The American Heart Association plans to lobby Congress if the USDA regulations don't match...