Seriously, USDA – A Food Safety Mobile?
The USDA has come up with a brilliant plan to help consumers survive the next salmonella outbreak. It’s called the Food Safety Mobile. The goal of this roving banana of knowledge is to bring safe food handling skills to the masses. Because after all, these 
constant outbreaks aren’t the result of questionable farming practices by Big Ag companies but rather the fault of the American people for recklessly choosing to eat their lettuce raw.
This is yet another sign that USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack and his cronies are completely unqualified for the job. Vilsack is not a farmer, nutritionist, doctor, chef or scientist. He is a lobbyist, specifically a lobbyist for Monsanto. That’s why he and his staff continue to miss or ignore the fact that the problem is not with consumers cross contaminating their food but rather with factory-farming that is more factory than farm. In short, Vilsack doesn’t get it.
The Food Safety Mobile is the heart of the USDA’s $1.37 billion push to teach Americans how to wash fruit. In addition to the traveling roadshow the program also maintains a toll-free hotline for your food safety questions providing assistance in both English and Spanish and an online chat. Both are available from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays. Oh, and I would be remiss not to mention the youtube channel, food handling demos, coloring books and of course the Food Safety Mobile Discovery Game.
This is such a waste of tax payer dollars. Hey, Mr. Vilsack, here’s a thought – instead of buying a million dollar lunch truck
how about not imposing dangerously lax regulations on genetically modified foods in exchange for campaign contributions for your boss? That way you could save the over-taxed and ignored citizenry a nickle or two. Not to mention how it would help clean up one of the most corrupt branches of the federal government.
You can take a virtual tour of the USDA’s Food Safety Mobile HERE but be warned – the decor has been known to trigger epileptic seizures. You’d think a billion dollars could by an interior that doesn’t look like Walt Disney threw up.
Poultry Farmers Give Feds a Deaf Earful
Last week the campus of Alabama A&M hosted what many are calling the “chicken summit.” USAG Eric Holder and USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack were joined by a gaggle of local politicians to hear the complaints of poultry farmers who labor under the iron thumb of poultry conglomerates like Pilgrim’s Pride and Tyson.
The purpose of the summit was to reach out to farmers as part of the 2008 Farm Bill signed into law by President George W. Bush that requires USDA investigations into unfair practices. To date the USDA has yet to launch a formal investigation despite obvious anti-trust violations.
No wonder. Secretary Vilsack has had a three-decade relationship with one of the corporations the Farm Bill was designed to reconnoiter, Monsanto. Likewise, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton has had a nefarious public relationship with Tyson that included allegations of insider trading, conflict of interest, and bribery. Then US Attorney General Janet Reno refused to investigate her boss’s wife despite overwhelming evidence. Alabama Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries Ron Sparks, who was also in attendance, is embroiled in accusations of taking money from lobbyists to finance his election for governor.
Secretary Vilsack and AG Holder both acted surprised at the revelations of one-sided contracts and mafia-like transactions with poultry corporations. Somehow they are the only two people that haven’t seen Food Inc. Remember Carole Morrison? She was the chicken farmer who allowed the film makers to document the substandard practices of modern factory farming. Her reward for her heroism was having her contract pulled out from under her.
Many poultry farmers have reported similar heavy-handed dealings with poultry companies including recent threats for attending the “chicken summit.” One who ignored the extortion attempts, Alabama poultry farmer Garry Staples, stated he expected, “retaliation,” from his contractor.
Assistant Attorney General Christine Varney told Staples, “I fully expect you will not experience retaliation,” then handing him a piece of paper added, “But if you do, call me at that number.” Her boss, AG Holder, was strangely quite throughout the proceedings saying that the issue was “a top priority.” We’ll see, this administration has proven less than trustworthy.
