Office of Communications (202) 720-8138 AgNews Summary for USDA Executives Monday, Feb. 9, 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 FARM & FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL SERVICES WTO SEEKS TO CURTAIL PROTECTIONIST MEASURES (101 Washington Post 2/7) The article leads with warnings from World Trade Organization Director-General Pascal Lamy against the “dangers of sliding into isolationism.” The WTO meets today amid rapidly rising concern over protectionist measures, export subsidies and economic nationalism that is spreading around the world as governments seek to boost their ailing companies and shield workers. The group isn’t expected to take any action at today’s meeting – for one thing, Ron Kirk, the nominee for U.S. trade representative, has not been confirmed yet by the Senate. But the meeting offers a chance for governments to try to persuade one another to slow the rush to protectionism. NATIONS RUSH TO ESTABLISH NEW BARRIERS TO TRADE (102 Wall Street Journal 2/6) Countries grappling with global recession have enacted a wave of barriers to world commerce since early last month, scrambling to safeguard their key industries -- often by damaging those of their neighbors. The World Trade Organization is gathering nations in a special meeting today to try to stem the rising tide, just two weeks after saying protectionism was largely under control. The article notes that Russia has introduced 28 measures to raise tariffs on other countries’ imports and to subsidize its own exports since November, and plans six more. It’s not alone. The European Union has warned the U.S. that proposed “buy American” provisions in its planned stimulus spending could break trade rules. Meanwhile, EU nations have reversed direction and tightened their own trade rules. FOOD SAFETY VILSACK BACKS SINGLE FOOD SAFETY AGENCY (103 wires 2/6) Secretary Tom Vilsack believes a single agency should be created and put in charge of the food safety work now handled by a variety of agencies, he said Friday. He said the peanut recall offers a prime opportunity to merge all food safety oversight into one agency. “We need a single agency that’s working in a modern framework,” Vilsack said. “We don’t have that today.” He also said, “You can’t have two systems and be able to reassure people you’ve got the job covered. This is a grand opportunity for us to take a step back and rethink our approach.” Several members of Congress have pushed unsuccessfully for a single food safety agency for years. On another topic, Bloomberg news service reported that Vilsack said USDA is in discussions with the Environmental Protection Agency about raising the amount of corn-based ethanol blended into the gasoline supply. “I do think it’s important for us to look for strategies to make sure the infrastructure of the ethanol industry is preserved, because it is a key component to this new energy future the president’s laid out,” Vilsack said. MARKETING & REGULATORY PROGRAMS SPRAYING OPPONENTS ASK VILSACK TO DELIST APPLE MOTH (104 Monterey County Herald, Calif. 2/7) Critics of California’s campaign against the light brown apple moth want the Obama administration to take the controversial bug off the high-threat target list of farm pests. Several environmental, organic farming and community groups last week asked Secretary Tom Vilsack to strip the moth of its high-risk status – a ranking that underpins the California Department of Food and Agriculture’s two-year-old eradication program against the insect. They contend the moth doesn’t pose a significant threat to the state’s agricultural industry and can be managed without a massive eradication effort. Critics of the apple moth campaign contend that quarantine and eradication measures not only pose health and environmental hazards, but take an economic toll on some growers. NORTH DAKOTA MAY STUDY HORSE SLAUGHTER PLANT (105 Grand Forks Herald 2/7) A North Dakota legislative committee unanimously approved a state study of a horse slaughter plant in the state on Friday after ranchers, horse breeders and veterinarians told of the need for a humane facility and how profitable it would be. A veterinarian testified that there are a minimum of 170,000 unwanted horses in the U.S., a problem that has gotten worse as the recession drags on. Horses are being turned loose to starve, he and several others said in testimony. He said a slaughter plant will keep horses from suffering, starving and being mistreated by people who can’t or don’t want to keep horses they own. The committee recommended that the bill be sent to the full House for a vote, probably this week. VIETNAM REPORTS 2ND BIRD FLU CASE; VILLAGERS RESIST SLAUGHTER (106 AP 2/8) A melee broke out in northern Vietnam when more than 100 villagers prevented authorities from destroying chickens to stop the spread of the bird flu, officials said Sunday as the country reported its second H5N1 case. About 100 villagers in a district just outside Hanoi overwhelmed police and health authorities last week and stopped them from destroying about 1,500 chickens smuggled in from China, an official said. In northern Quang Ninh province, tests confirmed Friday that a 23-year-old woman was infected with the H5N1 virus. She was hospitalized five days ago after slaughtering and eating chickens her family raised. USDA -- MULTI-MISSION PEANUT COMPANY LIED ABOUT TESTING, SHIPPING (107 L.A. Times, wires 2/6- 2/7) Peanut Corp. of America, the company that produced the contaminated peanut butter now being widely recalled, lied to Food and Drug Administration investigators about shipping batches of food known to be contaminated with salmonella, the FDA said Friday. The company had told FDA that some lots of peanut butter had initially tested positive for salmonella, but were retested and found to be negative before they were shipped. Further investigation showed that the company actually shipped some of the lots before the second tests were completed. Other lots were shipped without testing, and in some cases no second test was performed even after the first one came back positive. FDA officials said they have amended their inspection report of the company’s plant in Blakely, Ga., because it became clear that the company had not waited for outside testing to confirm that their products were safe. PEANUT CASE SHOWS HOLES IN FOOD SAFETY NET (108 N.Y. Times 2/9) The article leads with a description of conditions at the Peanut Corp. of America plant in Blakely, Ga., that may have contributed to salmonella contamination at the plant. Food experts said conditions at the plant would have been enough to cause alarm in an industry where sanitation can be a matter of life and death. But they were only one element in the salmonella outbreak and subsequent food safety train wreck that started at the plant and swept through the country. Am examination of the case reveals a badly frayed safety net. Interviews and government records show that state and federal inspectors do not require the peanut industry to inform the public – or even the government – of salmonella contamination in its plants. And industry giants like Kellogg used processed peanuts in a variety of products, but relied on the factory to perform safety testing and divulge any problems. At the same time, processed peanuts have been finding their way into more and more foods as a low-cost yet tasty additive, making tainted products harder to track. FALLOUT WIDENS AS BUYERS SHUN PEANUT BUTTER (109 N.Y. Times 2/7) Many consumers, apparently disregarding the fine print of the salmonella outbreak and food recall caused by a Georgia peanut plant, are swearing off all brands of peanut butter, driving down sales by 25 percent. The drop-off is so striking that brands like Jif are taking the unusual step of buying ads to tell shoppers that their products are not affected, and giving them a coupon to make sure they do not learn to live without what is a staple in many households. However, the article quotes a shopper in Texas who says that although she normally buys a jar of peanut butter each week, “The news shows say don’t buy it, and I won’t buy it. I’m very fearful of salmonella.” CRACKING THE CASE OF THE POISON PROCESSED PEANUTS (110 AP 2/9) The article compares food safety inspection techniques today to those of 100 years ago, and looks at the investigation into the case of today’s poison processed peanuts. The investigation took marathon work by federal scientists, clues in Canada, Oregon, Ohio and Connecticut, and a breakthrough in Minnesota at the hands of public health hotshots known as Team Diarrhea. So labyrinthian has the nation’s food production and distribution network become that a salmonella outbreak that has sickened 575 people in 43 states and resulted in the recall of more than 1,500 foods is traced to one plant making a mere 1 percent of the country’s peanut products. It’s a far cry from 1906, the year of the Pure Food and Drug Act, when Americans got most of their food from local farmers, grew some of their own and turned to processed products mainly for simple staples. Still, much food was foul and filthy in those days, and inspection was mostly a matter of looking for insects. In contrast, today’s peanut case has raised a series of mysteries: what caused it, who caused it, and the still-urgent question, where did it all go? CRISIS IN PEANUT INDUSTRY COMES AT A PAINFUL TIME (111 Atlanta Journal- Constitution 2/8) Georgia’s peanut farmers, processors and manufacturers – the biggest collection of peanut-related businesses in the nation – were already facing a bleak year when the recent recall of salmonella-tainted products made a bad situation worse. Last year brought a bumper crop with record prices. This year, companies that buy peanuts – brokers, shellers, and food and snack manufacturers – already have warehouses full of last year’s crop. Mix in the dismal economy, which has driven down prices of alternative crops such as cotton, corn and soybeans, and the recipe was there for a very bad year for Georgia’s farming regions. Now the peanut industry is worried that consumer fears over the salmonella outbreak linked to a Georgia peanut processing plant will put to rest any hopes of q quick turnaround. PEANUT RECALL PUTS TOWN “IN HOT WATER” (112 L.A. Times 2/8) In Blakely, Ga., the self-proclaimed Peanut Capital of the World, people credit peanuts with the area’s growth and prosperity. But now they fear the fallout from the salmonella outbreak will have a devastating effect on their livelihood. “Peanuts have been the cornerstone of our community,” says the president of the local Chamber of Commerce. “It’s a way of life here, and it would be devastating if there is a long-term impact from this.” Farmers, already hit hard by high fuel costs, said contracts for next season’s crop have been slow coming in from processing companies and manufacturers, leaving them unable to determine how many, if any, peanuts to plant in May. Most of the approximately 50 employees at the Blakely peanut processing plant owned by the Peanut Corp. of America – which the Food and Drug Administration has pinpointed as the source of the salmonella outbreak – have been laid off, exacerbating unemployment in an area already hurt by the recession. “We’re in hot water,” says Blakely’s mayor. “We’re already struggling with high poverty and a struggling agricultural economy, and this will impact not just our community, but this entire region of the state.” SALMONELLA OUTBREAK FUELS FOOD SAFETY EFFORTS (113 Wall Street Journal 2/7) The salmonella outbreak, which may have killed eight people, sickened at least 575 and led to the recall of more than 1,500 peanut-related products, has kick-started efforts to repair the U.S. food safety system. President Obama cited his concern as a public official and a father – his daughter eats peanut butter – when he called last week for a complete review of Food and Drug Administration operations. His worries were echoed by lawmakers who are pushing for an FDA food safety overhaul, following a series of food poisoning cases in recent years involving bagged spinach, lettuce, tomatoes, wheat flour from China and hot peppers from Mexico. Government regulation, they say, must be tightened to contend with centralization of food production, a flood of imported foods and the growing popularity of prepared meals, all of which have been blamed for outbreaks of salmonella and other ailments. Democrats say the Bush administration underfunded federal food safety efforts in its zeal to cut regulations. But critics cite other long- standing problems, including antiquated laws that fracture responsibility for food safety among a dozen federal agencies. FDA APPROVES DRUG CREATED WITH MILK FROM ALTERED GOATS (114 dailies, wires 2/6-2/7) Federal officials on Friday approved for the first time the sale of a drug made in animals genetically modified to secrete the compound in their milk. The drug comes from goats whose DNA was altered to produce a drug needed by patients with a rare blood disorder. Using animals as factories to produce medications needed by humans has been a long-standing goal, and federal officials emphasized that the technique not only has vast potential for patients but also can that it can be carried out without harm to the animals. The drug approved Friday by the Food and Drug Administration, called A Tryn, is used to untangle blood clots in patients who lack sufficient quantities of a protein called antithrombin. STUDY FINDS ETHANOL IS HARDER ON HEALTH COSTS THAN GASOLINE (115 Des Moines Register 2/8) Corn ethanol causes more human health costs than gasoline when it comes to one form of pollution, according to a University of Minnesota study. The researchers calculated emissions of fine particulate matter from producing and using ethanol and gasoline. They found that ethanol made from corn would result in health costs of as much as 93 cents per gallon, compared to 34 cents a gallon from gasoline. The results for ethanol varied according to how the fuel is produced. Ethanol produced by coal-fired plants fared the worst; ethanol from plants that use natural gas still came out with higher costs than gasoline. Ethanol made from prairie grasses fared much better than gasoline or corn ethanol at 24 cents per gallon. FARMERS SKEPTICAL OF SAFETY OF NATIONAL BIO LAB (116 AP 2/7) The dean of agriculture at Kansas State University told a cattlemen’s group that he believes a new federal laboratory to study livestock diseases is no threat to their herds. Fred Cholick on Friday assured the Kansas Cattlemen’s Convention that he would not be afraid to live next door to the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, which is expected to open on the Kansas State campus in the next five or six years. Cholick said the government made the best choice when it selected Kansas State as the site for the $450 million, ultra- secure laboratory. His presentation left “a lot of unanswered questions,” said the executive director of the cattlemen’s group. The group wanted the lab to stay at its current site on Plum Island in New York. FLORIDA GROWERS KEEP THEIR FINGERS CROSSED ON FROST IMPACT (117 Orlando Sentinel 2/8) Temperatures are expected to be warmer this week in Florida, but plants and citrus won’t be completely in the clear. A week’s worth of temperatures in the 70s won’t bring back fruit or leaves lost in last week’s frost, said an agricultural Extension agent for the University of Florida. Northern Lake County experience freezing temperatures overnight last Thursday that could have damaged the area’s citrus tree leaves and fruit, he said, but “You need a few weeks to really determine how much damage was done.” TEXAS ON ITS WAY TO A NEW DROUGHT (118 Dallas Morning News 2/8) Some two years after rains ended a prolonged and brutal drought, the Dallas area is back in a drought, and the situation is likely to persist, if not worsen, in the months ahead, climate scientists say. The latest report of the U.S. Drought Monitor shows “moderate” or “severe” drought in the region and most of northern Texas. Drought conditions exist in two-thirds of the state, up from 25 percent one month ago. And “extreme” or worst-case “exceptional” impacts are spreading across most of south-central Texas, particularly around Austin and San Antonio, in what is shaping up as a record drought there. The U.S. Climate Prediction Center foresees drought conditions continuing or developing across most of the state. Forecasters expect the La Nina weather pattern to persist through April, with cooler-than-normal water temperatures in the equatorial Pacific Ocean tending to weaken the tropical jet stream and keep rain-producing storms north of Texas. ICE STORM “DEVASTATING” TO MAPLE SUGAR INDUSTRY (119 Worcester Telegram and Gazette, Mass. 2/8) Impact from the ice storm of Dec. 11 and 12 continues to ripple across the Massachusetts economy, and painfully so in the maple sugar industry. Maple producers are clearing debris, re-establishing pipeline and getting ready to fire up evaporators. Tree damage notwithstanding, weather may still be the key to whether the coming sugar season is profitable for the state’s maple producers, who together account for production that in a good year can be valued at more than $2 million. The article quotes a forestry specialist with the Extension Service at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, who says that while there may be some initial damage to trees and some economic impact from the ice storm, maple producers should be encouraged by the results of a study of damage and recovery from a destructive 1998 storm, when more sugar maples survived than expected. He advises producers not to tap trees at all, or to place fewer taps this year on ice-damaged trees, allowing at least one season for a tree to recover. DEATH TOLL IN AUSTRALIA’S WILDFIRES CLIMBS TO 131 (120 dailies 2/9) A series of wildfires that tore across the southern Australian state of Victoria over the weekend killed at least 131 people, the state police said today, making it the country’s deadliest firestorm. Two entire towns were destroyed and at least 750 homes were leveled, along with more than 770 square miles of forest and farmland. Hot winds of more than 62 miles per hour and temperatures that peaked at 117 degrees in Melbourne on Saturday fanned the blazes, some of which police suspect were set deliberately. EDITORIAL AND OPINION PEANUT BUTTER ALERT PUTS SCRUTINY ON FDA (121 Des Moines Register 2/8) The Register’s Washington bureau chief and columnist, Philip Brasher, writes that when President Obama’s administration conducts its promised “complete review” of the Food and Drug Administration, it is likely to find that FDA “leaves the job of overseeing domestic food processors almost entirely to often short-staffed state agencies.” Moreover, FDA, which regulates 80 percent of the nation’s food supply, lacks the authority to inspect food makers’ testing records or to force the firms to recall tainted products. Meanwhile, Congress isn’t waiting for Obama. Lawmakers are working on legislation to overhaul the way FDA regulates foods and to increase its budget and staff. Brasher goes on to look at how state food safety agencies regulate – or don’t regulate – food manufacturers. He cites comments by Iowa’s food and consumer safety bureau chief, who says higher-risk plants should be inspected more frequently than other facilities, but she doesn’t have the staff to do it. He also says the latest food scare may move food safety to the top to some agendas – but there are no promises. THE FDA, MAKING US SICK (122 Philadelphia Inquirer 2/7) An editorial says the fact that USDA and the Federal Emergency Management Administration had contracts with the Peanut Corp. of America “says much about the depth of our food safety crisis.” The editorial notes that President Obama promised during his campaign that food oversight in his administration would not be “business as usual.” “Let’s hope not,” it says, noting other recent food scares that seemed to “blindside” the Food and Drug Administration, “highlighting its slow response and inadequate policing of the national and global food industry.” Today’s food safety problem, the editorial says, is based on years of “indifference and even hostility” to government food oversight, and “too much coziness with big business.” FDA’s focus, it says, “should be in preventing dangerous food and drugs from being sold in the first place, not in tracking it down after people get sick or die.” TAINTED PEANUTS VIOLATE PUBLIC TRUST (123 Miami Herald 2/8) An editorial calls on Congress to “get serious, really serious about protecting the nation’s food chain” or Americans “will continue to be victimized periodically by food-borne illnesses.” As a rule, it says, America’s food safety system is one of the best in the world, but “there are gaps in the system, and it only take an occasional snafu to wreak havoc that affects millions of people.” After-the-fact efforts to track down contaminated food is too little too late, the editorial says, adding, “Much more is needed at the front end to prevent food scares.” It will take more than adding resources and inspectors. “We need a better system from start to finish,” it says. It calls for tougher penalties for “companies whose negligence puts lives in jeopardy,” and for the Food and Drug Administration to focus on prevention and not on reacting after an incident occurs. The editorial concludes by calling on President Obama to “put the full weight of his office behind the effort.” AGRICULTURE AND TRADE PRESS AGEWB.COM 2/6 (124) Jim Wiesemeyer: Vilsack showing activist tendencies MEATINGPLACE 2/6 (125) Vilsack calls for single food agency, more ethanol in gas (126) Candidate for top FSIS job talks E. coli, irradiation, education BROWNFIELD 2/6 (127) Negative studies frustrate corn ethanol proponents (128) New USDA report looks at changes in livestock production (129) USDA expected to tighten soybean stocks Tuesday USAGNET 2/6 (130) FFA seeks applications for New Century Farmers FEEDSTUFFS 2/6 (131) USDA to release new long-term agricultural projections (132) EPA rejects animal rights groups’ petition on predator control (133) Groups seek FDA feed rule delay AND ALSO… HOW DO YOU PUT A PRICE ON A 7-YEAR COLLECTION OF LIZARD DUNG? (134 AP 2/8) A British university has apologized to a doctoral student for throwing away his seven-year collection of lizard dung. Daniel Bennett said he had collected the dung samples in the Philippines while studying the rare butaan lizard, a relative of the Komodo dragon. The material was to be studied as part of his doctoral work. Bennett said the bag was thrown away by cleaners at his lab at Leeds University in northern England. He said he has rejected the university’s compensation offer of $500, and will see them in court. USDA RELEASES Friday, Feb. 6 0041 USDA AWARDS $356 MILLION IN ELECTRIC LOANS 0040 USDA TO RELEASE NEW LONG-TERM AGRICULTURAL PROJECTIONS 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. Inclusion of an item in AgNews does not imply USDA agreement; nor does USDA attest to the accuracy or completeness of the item. * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ACCESS AGNEWS ARCHIVES ON THE USDA INTRANET – AgNews archive files are available on the USDA Intranet at http://agnews.usda.gov. AgNews summary and PDF clip files for the past week can be found under the days of the week at the top of the page. 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