Buffalo News, Meet The United States Food and Nutrition Agency (or Department)

Back in Febrary, I posted a commentary on Nicholas Kristof's Op-Ed about changing the name (and and focus) of the Department of Agriculture to the Department of Food. The gist of the post was that a name change wasn't enough - a whole new agency is need to combine oversight of all food policy.

So I had to smile when the BuffNews dedicated a Sunday Editorial to just that idea. The only problem was that they too did not go far enough, focusing only on the issue of food safety. While this is at the forefront of the news these days, we need a new, holistic approach to food policy.

So, I decided to write a letter to the Editor.

I often suggest that I should write such a letter, and have done so on two or three occasions. But I have been gun-shy about the process since my first letter (the only one published) had been "edited" in a way that eliminated the point. So I went ahead and prepared a Reader's Digest Condensed version of the February Blog post and e-mail it off.

A day or two later a phone call came from the News - the were going to print my letter. It showed up in today's edition.

Here is the text:

While I am not a big fan of the creation of a new federal bureaucracy, the call to create a new agency to take over responsibility for inspecting and monitoring food safety from the U. S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration is a good idea. Let me suggest, however, that it is just not enough to create the comprehensive change our national food policies need.

This new agency should also be given authority over nutrition policy, now split between the USDA and the FDA; food advertising policy, now shared between the USDA, the FDA and the Federal Trade Commission; and those aspects of farm subsidies that have an impact on the previous three topics.

All that is needed to make this happen is a method to ensure that decisions made by the new agency/department are based on facts, not influence from Congress or any interest groups from any side of a food issue, along with quite a bit of long-absent political will.

I have little hope that this will happen. Yet my family and your families deserve, at minimum, better food and a better, safer food supply.

Scott Harris

East Amherst

There may be hope after all.

Tom Vilsack sounds good.

Peanut Butter [is] the Pâté of Childhood - Florence Fabricant

It is almost two years since the great Peter Pan Peanut Butter recall for Salmonella. My first reaction to the was: Holy Frak, what will Alison eat? Ellie ate (and eats) pretty much anything, but the Beez was not only limiting herself to PB&J for School Lunch - it had to be Peter Pan! It was my favorite too. But, once the initial shock wore off, I was like "how can they do this to my kids". OK, I made jokes about the fact that that people who bought preformed burger patties should expect anything, but the bottom line is that the failures of both the food industry and the food inspection regime hurt not just us but our kids.

I am hopeful that the new President's approach to the overarching problems of our food policy will be extensive, but, in the mean time, he seems to be coming from the same place. Money quote:

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, I — I think that the FDA has not been able to catch some of these things as quickly as I expect them to catch. And so we're gonna be doing a complete review of FDA operations ... at bare minimum, we should be able to count on our government keeping our kids safe when they eat peanut butter ... that's what Sasha eats for — for lunch — probably three times a week. And, you know, I don't wanna have to worry about whether she's gonna get sick as a consequence to having — having her lunch.

But, anything will help. It turns out that the President of the company that is involved with this latest outbreak is a volunteer on a USDA Peanut Standards Board. No it is not charged with food safety, but this fox in charge of the henhouse attitude has to end.

I want my kids to have safe and nutritious food. Is that hard?

Yeah, This Will Help!

The Agriculture Department is apparently bowing to pressure from the food industry and preparing to limit information about tainted meat. So, now we won't know when the meatpackers screw up and the USDA inspectors fail! Maybe I do want to be a Vegan.

Not!

Just Wondering?

Yes, I know it's two different agencies, but why does it seem that we spend more time worrying about the safety of imported foods than we do about domestic. Campaign contributions?

The Mother of All Beef Recalls

Well, following the under cover videos, and the closure of the plant, the USDA has a week or two later ordered the recall of 143 million pounds of meat from the Westland/Hallmark abattoirs. Of course most of that meat has already been eaten . . .

If you are counting, that's 166,033,888 pounds of beef recalled since I started this blog! Grind your own frakking burger!

Cow Torture Doesn't Pay - Or does it?

So the USDA shut down Hallmark Meat Packing In Chino, CA after hidden video showed "torture tactics" to get downed cows to get up and join the slaughter line. The so called downers are prohibited from being used for human food as they have a greater incidence of Mad Cow disease.

This occurred despite the presence of eight USDA inspectors on site.

Money quote: "Now, in the wake of the video's release and the agency's response, food industry
insiders are questioning just how reliable the USDA's inspection process is."

Another Reason to Avoid Fast Food (and other eat-out burgers).

The Rochester Meat Company (that's Minnisota, not my birthplace down the Thruway) is voluntarily recalling 188,000 pounds of ground beef. That 23,033,888 pounds of bad meat recalled in the last six months.

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Strike Two

For the second time in under a month, Cargill is recalling ground beef possibly tainted with E. coli O157:H7. Locally, the potentially tainted meat is distributed by Wegmans. I recently posted that "Our local markets appear keenly aware of food safety, but that won't help if the meat they grind is contaminated and sits in the case until you buy it." It looks like it is worse - some (or all?) of that ground meat in the meat cases is not ground on site, but shipped from a meat packer. I stand by my original assertion: grind your own!

ETA 11/5 I received an e-mail from Wegmans today with details of the recall. It seems they still grind in store under the Food You Feel Good About label.

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Made it, Ma! Topps of the world!

Topps Meat Company, LLC has closed its doors after 67 years as a direct result of the recall of over 21 million pounds of frozen ground beef products for E coli contamination. (author's note, though Topps has a Buffalo connection, it is not related to the Tops Supermarket chain from which I have just returned from.) Topps is not alone. Cargill has been sued for a similar outbreak which led to a recall, and ConAgra had to recall frozen pot pies, including the Banquet brand, for salmonella contamination.

When salmonella shows up in your peanut butter, or E coli in your spinach, that's their fault. When it shows up in pre-made burgers or pot pies, it's the consumers. I am going to stay away from the pot pie issue for now -- Frozen pot pie + microwave is too vomit inducing.

But, frozen burgers are considered by many to be a convenience. I disagree. I have no problem with shortcuts, but I have never tasted any of them that have any beef taste, and frankly they impossible to cook to the nice medium rare - the way I like them. In fact, I am a bit surprised that anyone could undercook them.

The particular problem with ground beef is that pathogens infect the surface of the meat, and most methods of cooking it eliminate, or at least reduce, the possibility of infection. But, once the meat is ground, the surface area increases and the contaminated surfaces are mixed in. Cook the burger mid-rare and you may be creating the perfect breeding ground for bacteria.

The threat of a food borne illness is a risk, especially if you choose to not cook your food up to USDA recommendations. I'm sorry, but a burger cooked to an internal temperature of 165º is tasteless, so I choose to ignore that. So what can someone do? Well, you can buy irradiated beef, if you can find it, but in my experience it is too finely ground and may pose health risks of its own. Our local makets appear keenly aware of food safety, but that won't help if the meat they grind is contaminated and sits in the case until you buy it.

The best choice - grind your own. David Rosengarten once created an arcanely crafted recipe for the best hamburger meat, using bits from a variety of cuts. I just use chuck. I semi-freeze the meat, slice it into strips, and run it through the grinder with the large die. But, if you don't have the time or equipment to grind it yourself, allow me to suggest an underused alternative. March into our local supermarket, buy a chuck roast and ask the guys behind the counter to grind it for you there and then.

It's not perfect but it works. If you enjoy your burger after all this work, call your congressperson an demand an increase in funding for the USDA's inspection program!

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