Office of Communications (202) 720-8138 AgNews Summary for USDA Executives Friday, Feb. 6, 2009 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * COPYRIGHT NOTIFICATION * * * * * * * * * * * * * * AgNews is intended for use by authorized government personnel only. Redistributing AgNews by any means to any unauthorized person violates copyright on the source material. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * To access AgNews on the USDA Intranet, go to http://agnews.usda.gov FOOD, NUTRITION AND CONSUMER SERVICES PEANUTS SENT TO SCHOOLS DESPITE TESTS SHOWING SALMONELLA (101 Washington Post 2/6) Peanut Corporation of America sold 32 truckloads of roasted peanuts and peanut butter to the federal government for a free-lunch program for poor children, even as the company’s internal tests showed that its products were contaminated with salmonella bacteria. On Thursday, USDA abruptly suspended its contract with the company, which is at the center of an outbreak of salmonella illness that has killed eight people, sickened 575 and triggered one of the largest food recalls in U.S. history (#103 below). The fact that a federal agency that shares responsibility for keeping food safe was among the thousands of customers that may have received tainted food from the Blakely, Ga., plant is the latest revelation in a scandal that has exposed an array of failures in the government’s systems for keeping deadly pathogens out of the food supply. A spokeswoman for USDA said schools in California, Minnesota and Idaho received the suspected peanut products between January and November 2007. Federal officials notified the affected schools last week and told them to destroy any uneaten food, but officials said most of it has already been consumed, the spokeswoman said. See AgNews 2/2 #103. VILSACK SAYS USDA FOOD PROGRAMS CAN CUT CHILD HUNGER (102 Reuters 2/5) Public nutrition programs like school lunch and food stamps can help meet President Obama’s goal to end childhood hunger by 2015, Secretary Tom Vilsack told senators. In written responses to questions from Senate Agriculture Committee members, Vilsack also said he will “work aggressively” to persuade trading partners that U.S. beef is safe from mad cow disease. The responses were released Thursday. During his confirmation hearing on Jan. 14, Vilsack said USDA’s child nutrition programs could be a vehicle for improving diets and the overall nutrition level of children. “The first couple of steps that will help us to achieve this important goal are investing in nutrition and hunger programs in the economic stimulus package being developed by Congress and passing a strong child nutrition and WIC reauthorization bill,” wrote Vilsack. “Beyond these near-term steps, we need to consider proposals to improve our capacity to support the nutritional needs of school children during the summer months and ensure that a greater number of eligible children are participating in the nutrition assistance programs.” MARKETING & REGULATORY PROGRAMS U.S. SUSPENDS PEANUT COMPANY FROM FEDERAL CONTRACTS (103 N.Y. Times 2/6, Reuters 2/5) The company whose peanut butter and peanut paste has been linked to an outbreak of salmonella food poisoning has been suspended from federal government contracts, USDA said Thursday. Peanut Corp. of America and a subsidiary cannot participate in federal contracts for a year, USDA said. The Department also proposed to debar the company from contracts for three years. The company’s actions indicate that it “lacks business integrity and business honesty, which seriously and directly hinders its ability to do business with the federal government,” said David Shipman, acting administrator of the Agricultural Marketing Service. The company has 30 days to respond to the proposed debarment. Its chief executive was also removed from a USDA peanut advisory board. See also #109 below. CLIFFORD SAYS DRUG SCHEME AT LAB MAY HAVE LASTED YEARS (104 AP 2/5) A scheme in which federal veterinary lab workers allegedly obtained low-cost medicine intended for animals and used it for themselves and their relatives may have been going on for years, a top USDA official said Thursday. Chief veterinary officer Dr. John Clifford wouldn’t elaborate on how Department officials discovered the alleged scheme at the federal laboratory complex in Ames, Iowa. But, he said, “we are aware that some of this activity has been ongoing for a number of years.” USDA announced on Wednesday that it has placed 19 employees on paid leave as officials look into the allegations (AgNews 2/5 #103). UTAH ELIMINATES ORGANIC CERTIFICATION PROGRAM (105 Salt Lake Tribune 1/28) Without knowing how much the state will save, Utah is eliminating its nationally recognized organic certification program, which has provided small farmers and processors a niche market. State officials say private inspection companies can fill the void. But farmers worry that private labels will not have the clout with consumers that the Utah state seal does, and hiring outside firms will be a costly burden to local businesses. “They never gave us a chance to pay more to keep the state program,” said Russel Taylor, who grows organic beef and is a member of the state organic advisory committee. “We were not informed, there was no cost analysis and there were no efforts to make any kind of adjustment to keep it. By any standard, that’s not a good way to do business.” A spokesman for the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food said that like the state of Utah, private companies can certify organic products, using standards developed by USDA. WEST VIRGINIA TURKEY WORKERS INDICTED (106 AP 2/6) A brief article reports that three former turkey farm workers who were videotaped stomping on birds’ heads and wringing their necks have been indicted in 19 counts of animal abuse. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which had an undercover operative film the abuse last fall at Aviagen Turkeys Inc. in West Virginia, said it believes the felony counts are the most severe charges that American factory farmers have faced. Each felony charge is punishable by up to five years in prison and up to a $5,000 fine. NATURAL RESOURCES & ENVIRONMENT 2,000-ACRE FIRE BURNS IN CALIFORNIA’S OWENS VALLEY (107 AP 2/5) A wind- driven wildfire spread over 2,000 acres in California’s Owens Valley, even as a Pacific storm moved into coastal areas of the parched state Thursday. The fire erupted just before noon about six miles east of Fort Independence, and was burning in a sparsely populated region of brush and heavy grassland, said a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The flames were fanned by strong winds, but winds decreased and rain had started to move in, helping firefighting conditions. Containment was estimated at 20 percent by evening, and full containment was expected this morning. RESEARCH, EDUCATION & ECONOMICS CALIFORNIA STUDENTS PICKED TO ATTEND AG OUTLOOK FORUM (108 Fresno Bee 2/4) Rosalva Chavez, an agricultural business student from Fresno State in California, is preparing for the USDA 2009 Agricultural Outlook Forum, courtesy of USDA. She and Courtney Hannink, a student at Stanislaus State, are among 18 students nationwide selected for a free ride to the forum. As part of the conference’s student diversity program, Chavez and Hannink are having their airfare, meals, hotel expenses and $350 conference registration fee picked up by agribusiness sponsors and USDA. USDA -- MULTI-MISSION LAWMAKERS SAY OBAMA MUST PUSH TO OVERHAUL FOOD INSPECTION (109 dailies, wires 2/5-2/6) Fixing the nation’s food safety woes may not be possible this year unless President Obama makes it a top priority, Sen. Tom Harkin warned Thursday, after a hearing exposed loopholes in government oversight that contributed to the ongoing national salmonella outbreak. “I hope President Obama puts the weight of his office behind this,” Harkin said. “It’s going to require them to be actively pushing on this. This is a matter that we can’t continue to put off.” Obama said earlier this week he is not satisfied with how the Food and Drug Administration is handling food safety, and his administration is reviewing the agency’s operations. At the Senate hearing Thursday, lawmakers reacted angrily when told that food companies and state safety inspectors don’t have to report to the FDA when test results find pathogens in a processing plant. “We would like to have more information. There is no question,” said Stephen Sundlof, director of FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. “I’d like to see some people go to jail,” said Sen. Patrick Leahy. “This was a company that should have shut things down immediately.” SHIPPING PRODUCT AFTER MIXED TEST RESULTS CONDEMNED (110 USA Today 2/6) The Georgia peanut plant blamed for a massive food safety recall engaged in a practice that is “universally condemned” when it shipped products with contradictory test results for salmonella, a Food and Drug Administration official told Congress Thursday. The Peanut Corp. of America plant shipped products 12 times in 2007 and 2008 that tested positive for salmonella and then tested negative on a retest, FDA said. Retesting and shipping food after a positive test is not a problem that is “rampant across the industry,” Stephen Sundlof, director of FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, said at a Senate Agriculture Committee hearing. What the company did is “universally condemned,” he said. FEMA PULLS BACK FOOD KITS DUE TO POSSIBLE CONTAMINATION (111 AP 2/5) Emergency officials have identified four trailers of food kits in Arkansas with potentially salmonella-contaminated peanut butter, and have removed the meals from distribution to victims of last week’s storms, a federal official said Thursday. The trailers were found unopened at a staging area in Fayetteville, and are believed to be the only shipments to Arkansas that were part of a recall this week by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, an agency spokesman said. He said none of the recalled food kits were distributed. The recall also applied to Kentucky, and officials there said Thursday they have stopped distributing the meals, and have received no complaints of illnesses from the peanut butter. PLANT WORKER CITES SANITATION CONCERNS (112 Atlanta Journal-Constitution 2/6) Sanitation problems at the Georgia peanut butter plant linked to the national salmonella outbreak were no secret to upper management, according to one sanitation worker. “I used to tell them all of the time, ‘We need to shut down and really clean this place,’” said Ann Bristow, who had been at the plant nearly three years at the time it closed. “I did see rodents and roaches, but was it bad enough that I’d pick up my coat and leave? No.” Bristow said she became so concerned about sanitary conditions that she kept a journal, which she said is now locked up in the shut-down plant. The article quotes another plant employee who says he had no first-hand knowledge of any roach or rodent problems at the plant, and that quality control workers had the authority to shut down the plant until any problem was fixed. That never happened as far as he knew, he said. PEANUT PRODUCT RECALL ONE OF THE LARGEST (113 AP 2/5) The recall of peanut products because of possible salmonella contamination has mushroomed into one of the largest. Depending on how recalls are measured, few others come close. If counted by the number of products, more than 1,313 had been recalled as of Thursday. The closest is 1,177 pet food products recalled in 2007 after melamine was discovered in some ingredients. If measured in pounds, the February 2008 recall of beef from a California packaging plant would top the list, with 143 million pounds affected. PEANUT COSTS ADDING UP FOR FOOD COMPANIES (114 Reuters 2/5) Kellogg Co., the first company to report the financial costs of a sweeping peanut product recall caused by an outbreak of salmonella, said Thursday the withdrawals are likely to cost it up to $70 million. The recall, which has included more than 1,300 products, resulted from contamination at a single peanut plant in Georgia. Unilever, General Mills and Nestle SA are among the major food makers that have recalled products, but many smaller manufacturers and grocery store chains have been affected. Peanut farmers are worried about the impact on their revenue. DAIRY FARMS IN CRISIS AS MILK PRICES TURN SOUR (115 Reuters 2/5) Many of the more than 60,000 dairy farms in the U.S. have been cutting costs, selling off their cows or leaving the dairy business altogether as milk prices have dropped 35 percent in just the past two months while dairy farm operating costs remain uncomfortably high. Some farms are losing $200 per head every month. Milk prices are down more than 50 percent from last summer after hitting all-time highs during 2007 and notching the second-highest prices on record in 2008. “Given the suddenness and severity of the plunge in farm-level milk prices, a significant number of farmers won’t survive the winter,” said the president and chief executive of the National Milk Producers Federation. Analysts expect milk prices to remain depressed through at least the first half of the year, and prices later this year may only be high enough to cover production costs. FLORIDA FARMERS MOSTLY MAKE IT THROUGH CHILLY TEMPERATURES (116 wires 2/5) Citrus growers and vegetable growers in Florida appeared Thursday to have weathered the statewide freeze better than expected, but tomato growers took a hit as temperatures stayed below freezing long enough to cause damage to some of those crops. It will take days for growers to know the extent of the damage. But temperatures in the tomato growing regions in southwestern Florida and near Tampa were “cold enough that there will be pockets of damage to those crops,” said a spokeswoman for the Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association. The mercury was expected to dip into the low 20s in northern Florida Thursday night for the second night in a row. ACTIVIST GETS 22 YEARS FOR SETTING FIRE TO PROTEST GM RESEARCH (117 AP 2/5) A radical activist who helped set a $1 million fire to protest research on genetically modified crops was sentenced Thursday to nearly 22 years in prison – even more than the prosecution recommended. The explosion and fire caused more than $1 million in damage to Michigan State University’s Agriculture Hall on New Year’s Eve in 1999. In her plea agreement, Marie Mason also admitted causing an additional $3 million in damage through other acts from 1999 to 2003, including destroying homes under construction in the Detroit area and Indiana and setting fire to two boats owned by a man who formerly raised minks. Mason acted on behalf of the Earth Liberation Front, which has been implicated in a spate of similar crimes. CHINA DECLARES EMERGENCY AS DROUGHT BITES (118 Reuters 2/4) China has declared an emergency over a drought that could devastate crops and farmers’ incomes, official media said on Thursday, threatening further hardship amid slumping economic growth. The drought gripping parts of central and northern China has sent Zhengzhou wheat futures prices up 5 percent this week, but physical prices have not moved, with most investors confident the country’s reserves and last year’s big harvest can offset any fall in wheat production this spring. The national Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief declared a “level two” emergency, calling it a “severe drought rarely seen in history,” the People’s Daily and other official media reported. The absence of rain or snow since November has affected 9.5 million hectares of farmland -- 37,000 square miles, or 43 percent of the winter wheat sources, the China Daily reported. STUDY SHOWS COWS WITH NAMES RELAX AND GIVE MORE MILK (119 USA Today 2/5) Cows that are given names produce more milk than those that are not, a study out of England says. The study discovered that more affectionate treatment of cattle -- including giving cows names -- can increase milk production by more than 68 gallons annually. An average cow produces about 2,000 gallons of milk a year. One of the researchers said the positive effect of naming cows has always been a belief among farmers, but until now there was no scientific evidence. The reason behind more productive named cows is chemical, she said. If a cow is not given individual attention, she may not be comfortable around humans and may become stressed. The stress releases cortisol, a hormone that inhibits milk production. SAN FRANCISCO TO CONVERT COOKING GREASE TO FUEL (120 San Francisco Chronicle 2/5) San Francisco will become the first city in the country to convert large batches of “brown grease” – the smelly, mucky mess left over from foods cooked in oil – into biodiesel and other fuels under a program set to start by the end of the year. The $1.2 million pilot program, which is being funded by state and federal grants, will go toward building a grease recycling plant near the city’s Oceanside treatment plant. The program will allow the city to collect about 10,000 gallons a week of dirty grease, which can be converted into roughly 500 gallons of fuel. San Francisco has been recycling “yellow grease” – oil that’s been used for “clean” cooking like frying potatoes – since 2007. Programs that convert used cooking oil into biodiesel are becoming increasingly common in the United States, but so far no one has created a large-scale system for converting brown grease into fuel, said the biofuel program coordinator for the Public Utilities Commission. AGRICULTURE AND TRADE PRESS DTN 2/5 (121) Growers balance paperwork against ACRE’s rewards (122) Senators see no value in meat label from multiple countries USAGNET 2/5 (123) Final Republican member named to House ag committee (124) Frozen chicken recall linked to peanut products recall AGWEB.COM 2/5 (125) Why the “card check” issue is important to the meat processing industry AGRI-PULSE 2/5 (126) Senate hearing spotlights serious food safety problems (127) USDA opens up acreage for fruits and vegetables (128) New payment limits: full employment for accountants and attorneys? FARM WEEK, Ill. 2/4 (129) Major housecleaning anticipated at USDA MEATINGPLACE 2/5 (130) U.S. beef exports to S. Korea slump at end of 2008 AND ALSO… IT MAY BE AN INFLATABLE RAT, BUT IT’S PROTECTED SPEECH (131 AP 2/5) Even a 10-foot inflatable rat has free speech rights in New Jersey, the state’s Supreme Court ruled Thursday. In a case that pitted the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union against a central Jersey town, the high court ruled unanimously that the rodent is protected speech under the First Amendment. “The town’s elimination of an entire medium of expression without a readily available alternative renders the ordinance overbroad,” Justice John E. Wallace Jr. wrote for the court. The super-size rat, sitting on its hind legs and baring fangs, is a national symbol used by organized labor to signal a labor dispute. It was blown up and displayed at a 2005 labor event in Lawrence township until police enforced a law than bans banners, streamers and inflatable signs. Union lawyers argued that the law violated the right to free expression and suppressed protest. FRIDAY AG HUMOR: A farmer was on holiday in Louisiana, where he tried to buy some alligator shoes. However, he was not prepared to pay the high prices, so he decided to catch his own alligator. He went out into the bayou, and after a while saw two men with spears standing in the water. The men told the farmer they were catching alligators, and could help him get an alligator and a pair of alligator shoes. Just at that point, the farmer noticed an alligator moving in the water towards one of the men. The guy stood completely passive, even as the gator came ever closer. Just as the beast was about to swallow him, he struck home with his spear and after a furious struggle, wrestled the gator up onto the beach, where several others were already lying. Together the two guys threw the gator onto its back. "Darn!” they said. “This one doesn't have any shoes either!" NETWORK NEWS Thursday, Jan. 5 NBC: Congress threatens to crack down hard on the peanut company in the salmonella outbreak, and the FDA for letting it happen. USDA RELEASES Thursday, Jan. 5 0039 SECRETARY VILSACK TO BE 2009 AGRICULTURAL OUTLOOK FORUM'S KEYNOTE SPEAKER 0038 USDA PROPOSES TO DEBAR PEANUT CORPORATION OF AMERICA To obtain a USDA release, access USDA’s Home Page at http://www.usda.gov To access AgNews on the USDA Intranet, go to http://agnews.usda.gov * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * DISCLAIMER -- AgNews content is derived from major wires, news magazines and mass distribution press. 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