Department Of Agriculture U S

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Wednesday that it was investigating a Chino-based supplier of meat to the National School Lunch Program after release of a video showing slaughterhouse workers using inhumane and illegal practices on weak and sick cows.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Edward T. Schafer said Friday that the nation's largest beef recall had set back negotiations to ship U.S. beef to Japan and South Korea. Those markets were closed to the U.S. cattle industry in 2003 after a scare over bovine spongiform encephalopathy, better known as mad cow disease. Schafer said at a convention of meatpackers and processors that he was hopeful trade talks would continue, but that the Westland/Hallmark Meat Packing Co.

Agriculture Secretary Edward T. Schafer sparred with Senate lawmakers Thursday, insisting that regulations governing inspections of slaughterhouses are sufficient to ensure the safety of the nation's meat supply. Schafer rejected senators' calls to completely ban from slaughter any cattle unable to walk. "Downer" cows are at higher risk of carrying E. coli and salmonella bacteria and of having the wasting neurological illness known as mad cow disease.

How do you make 18,000 pounds of beef disappear? Although it may sound like a trick question, it was a very real issue last week for Lynnelle Grumbles as she and other school food service managers throughout California grappled with the aftermath of the largest beef recall in U.S. history.

Fred Garza has been patrolling a piece of the Rio Grande for 16 years, usually riding solo on horseback, sometimes venturing to areas where his radio and cellphone have limited range. But Garza isn't looking for drug smugglers, human traffickers or illegal immigrants. He's looking for stray livestock that might be carrying a tick with a deadly disease into the United States. "If it doesn't have hooves, it's not our concern," Garza said. Garza is a veteran of the 61-member U.S.

Married couples with joint incomes of up to $1.5 million from their farm operation could still qualify for crop subsidies under a five-year, $300-billion farm bill compromise that would boost the Agriculture Department's food and farm programs. Some farm couples with incomes totaling $2.5 million -- assuming $1 million is from other, nonfarm sources -- could also qualify.

In a shift on federal food safety policy, the Bush administration soon will begin telling consumers during recalls whether their local grocery store has been stocking contaminated meat or poultry. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which announced the change Friday, currently publicizes food recalls and sources but does not tell consumers where the tainted products have gone. Long-standing anger about this policy flared in February during the largest beef recall in U.S.

Federal meat inspectors will apply a new approach to 254 processing plants in April that will intensify monitoring of higher-risk plants but devote less time to plants deemed safer, officials said Thursday. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's "risk-based" inspection plan immediately drew fire from consumer groups that doubted the agency's ability to determine risk, and from meatpackers complaining that they were blindsided by the plan.

Federal officials put a hold on 20 million chickens raised for market because their feed was mixed with pet food containing an industrial chemical. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency are trying to determine whether the chickens pose a threat to human health if eaten, USDA spokesman Keith Williams said. Officials would not say which states the chickens were in.

Anheuser-Busch's organic beers have become fully organic -- at least for now. The nation's largest brewer said Wednesday that because of inaction on proposed regulations by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, it had started using 100% organic hops in its two beers that carry the "USDA Organic" seal. Previously, less than 10% of the beers' hops were organic.