Topic: usda

Michelle Obama to Bulldoze USDA Regulations with Thousands of Salad Bars

Michelle Obama to Bulldoze USDA Regulations with Thousands of Salad Bars

Jamie Oliver has had all kinds of problems getting schools to change their lunch menus, but then, he’s no Michelle Obama. The first lady is on a mission to put salad bars in schools, and she’s not going to let USDA regulations stop her. Obama has teamed with White House Chef and Food Initiative Coordinator Sam Kass, school lunch advocate Ann Cooper, and officials at the U.S. Centers for Disease and Prevention to to put salad bars into 5,000 schools. The initiative will be announced on Monday, according to Grist.org, despite worries over USDA nutrition-tracking rules and health inspector concerns over the disease-spreading potential of open salad bars. More »

The Most Controversial Food Group: Got Milk?

The Most Controversial Food Group: Got Milk?

Yesterday, we discussed a New York Times article about Dairy Management, a government organization that helped boost Domino’s Pizza sales by loading more cheese onto pizzas and spending millions on marketing them to customers; all while the USDA pushes a food pyramid that suggests Americans limit the intake of such high-fat foods. If that wasn’t enough cheese controversy for the week, there’s more: According to Grist.org, the FDA is cracking down on raw cheese producers. More »

Is the Food Pyramid Good for Your Health, or Just Good for Business?

Is the Food Pyramid Good for Your Health, or Just Good for Business?

If you’ve ever questioned the food pyramid, a recent article in The New York Times, “While Warning About Fat, U.S. Pushes Cheese Sales,” will make you even more leery of government nutrition guidelines. The article outlines the work of an organization called Dairy Management, which helped Domino’s Pizza create a line of pizzas with 40% more cheese than normal and developed a $12 million marketing campaign to promote them — great for sales, but not so great for customers’ waistlines (one slice of the Domino’s extra-cheese pizza contains up to two-thirds the maximum daily intake of saturated fat for adults). But Dairy Management isn’t a business consultancy firm; it’s a government agency created by the United States Department of Agriculture — the same folks who bring you the food pyramid and dietary guidelines. More »

What Does “Grade A” Mean When It Comes to Eggs?

What Does "Grade A" Mean When It Comes to Eggs?

When you see a “Grade A” stamp on a carton of eggs, do you think that means they’re top-quality? Not necessarily. It’s just a USDA stamp that means there’s a grader in the egg-packing facility who checks the eggs’ size, shell, and color. This “Grade A” label is more a marketing ploy than an actual measure of quality, at least as far as eggs are concerned. If the carton is stamped with the highest grade possible, consumers will be more likely to buy it. More »