First lady Michelle Obama and the USDA's Tom Vilsack announced a list of new nutrition standards for public school meals earlier this week with major health upgrades for the nation's children, earning applause from consumer health organizations and advocacy groups.

The USDA is investigating an outbreak of Salmonella that originated with beef products sold throughout the Northeast at Hannaford grocery stores. Tracing the outbreak source up the supply chain is complicated by weak record-keeping standards for grocers' beef products.

]]> http://www.organicauthority.com/blog/health/usda-investigates-salmonella-outbreak-in-beef/feed/ 0 http://www.organicauthority.com/blog/organic/busted-usda-finally-enforces-organic-standards-at-shamrock-farms/ http://www.organicauthority.com/blog/organic/busted-usda-finally-enforces-organic-standards-at-shamrock-farms/#comments Sat, 17 Dec 2011 08:00:36 +0000 Erin Shaw http://www.organicauthority.com/blog/?p=10651

Shamrock Farms is under fire from the USDA for questionable “split operation” livestock management practices that could get their organic certification revoked. The USDA investigation is in response to a formal complaint by the Cornucopia Institute, an organic industry watchdog that first inspected Shamrock in 2008. Cornucopia found “inadequate, overgrazed pasture adjacent to their milking facility,” and learned from Shamrock employees that “the confined cows had not been out in weeks.” Federal organic regulations require that cows be grazed, a practice that some factory-scale dairies shirk according to Cornucopia’s investigations.

Californians may have just spotted a gem amidst the rubble of America's crumbling economy: The California FreshWorks Fund is a $200 million public-private partnership aimed at increasing healthy and affordable food for the state's most challenged communities.

The USDA must complete an Environmental Impact Study before Monsanto's GM sugar beets will be allowed to continue being grown for commercial use, a federal appeals court decided in late May.

Random USDA produce tests showed at least 34 unapproved pesticides on samples of fresh cilantro that were not removed with washing, according to an article in the Chicago Tribune.

With 25 million children and teens—nearly one third of American kids — overweight or obese, the USDA announced new nutrition standards for school lunches earlier this year, making dietary changes for the first time in more than 15 years.

Important nutrition facts may soon appear on the front of food labels, hopes the Grocery Manufacturers Association and the Food Marketing Institute, who this week announced a new labeling system called "Nutrition Keys" to make important health data that much more accessible.

Nutrition Keys, which is voluntary, asks food producers to display calories, saturated fat, sodium, and sugar content on the front of food packages; currently nutrition facts appear on the back of most food products.

Despite a court order to conduct a thorough Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) of genetically modified (GM) sugar beets before deregulating the seeds, The USDA has decided to continue allowing the planting of Monsanto’s Roundup Ready sugar beets.