Department Of Agriculture U S

Government officials have tracked down all but 1.5% of a corn crop that is not approved for human consumption but that found its way into the food supply, the Agriculture Department said Thursday. That leaves 1.2 million bushels of the 80 million-bushel crop unaccounted for, down from 4.5 million bushels that could not be traced as of early this week.

A Canadian meat processor is voluntarily recalling about 400 pounds of sliced salami and ham from stores in the Western U.S. because the meats may be contaminated with a disease-causing bacteria, the U.S. government said. A statement from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service said the luncheon meats had been distributed to companies in Seattle, Houston, the San Francisco Bay area and the Portland, Ore., area. Freybe Sausage Ltd.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, responding to a critical report, defended its testing program for mad cow disease Tuesday, saying the surveillance plan that went into effect June 1 targets "precisely the population of animals we should be testing." The draft report, prepared by the USDA's Office of Inspector General and released by Rep. Henry A.

Agriculture Department employees used government credit cards to pay tuition for bartender school, to buy Ozzy Osbourne concert tickets, lingerie and to make a down payment on a car, according to a government audit released Friday. Based on a random audit of 300 cardholders, the department's inspector general estimated that 15% of the 55,000 USDA employees who carry the government credit cards -- or 8,250 employees -- made a total of $5.

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.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger asked the federal government on Wednesday to help California dairy operators, chicken ranchers and other farmers who were hit with financial losses caused by last week's record heat wave. Though estimates of damages remain sketchy at best, agriculture industry officials suggested they would need help from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to deal with losses that they said could top $1 billion.

A new wave of competition among food vendors is holding down prices and saving the typical U.S. family about $500 annually, an Agriculture Department economist said. Ephraim Leibtag, USDA's food-price expert, forecast food inflation of 2% to 3% this year, about the same as last year and a relief after the 3.4% rise in prices during 2004.

Following one of the worst fire seasons in decades, the U.S. government said Thursday that it plans to hire about 3,500 new forest firefighters. "We are adding significant new staffing to improve our nation's wildland fire suppression capabilities and to reduce fire hazards near populated areas," Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman said. More than 84,000 fires raged across the United States this summer, consuming nearly 7 million acres of public lands.

Sun-Diamond Growers, indicted this week for allegedly making illegal gifts and contributions to political figures, is a major force in California elections and has backed Gov. Pete Wilson's campaigns for more than a decade. The giant agricultural cooperative and its officers have contributed more than $200,000 to Wilson's state and federal political campaigns since 1989, records show. Moreover, the firm was instrumental in helping him win a U.S.