Tom Vilsack

Scab Alert! Poultry Safety Proposal Calls for Fewer Skin Inspections

In the past, U.S. poultry processors' food safety procedures largely involved checking the birds for scabs and sores (grosssssss). But now, new proposals have called for producers to focus more on sanitation, Bloomberg Businessweek reports. Tom Vilsack, U.S. secretary of agriculture, said that as m ... More >>

USDA Shutters Hundreds of Outposts

The agency that helps farmers and ranchers -- and basically just makes sure that the country's food production goes smoothly and that Americans are fed -- is shutting down hundreds of regional offices to save money, the Associated Press reports.

Reactions to The Daily Meal's Top 50 Americans in Food

The Daily Meal​The Daily Meal just put out its giant listicle of the most powerful Americans in food. The list is an interesting one that runs the gamut from chefs (Tom Colicchio, José Andrés), local media (Sam Sifton, Lockhart Steele), TV stars (Rachael Ray, Guy Fieri), and politicos (Thom ... More >>

Meat to Ring in New Year With Nutritional Labels

dawnofanewera.wordpress.com​File under Things You Probably Don't Want to Know: beginning on Jan. 1, meat will carry the same nutritional labels found on just about everything else you can buy in the supermarket.

Shirley Sherrod Wants Her Life, Not Her Job, Back -- Also, Will Sue Andrew Breitbart

Sherrod and Vilsack, via MSNBC​Former Agriculture employee Shirley Sherrod, who was fired over an edited clip spotlighted by Andrew Breitbart in which she seemed to indicate discrimination against a white farmer 24 years ago (in the full clip she went on to explain the lesson she'd learned aga ... More >>

Shirley Sherrod Gets Apology From White House

Sherrod speaks in the video in question​Another day, another sorry. This time it's from Press Secretary Robert Gibbs to the former head of the Agriculture Department's rural development office in Georgia, Shirley Sherrod. Sherrod was fired on Monday evening (a/k/a, "asked to resign") over a cl ... More >>

Feds Say Hams Were for Homeless; New York Fast Food Fries Lower in Fat

A Drudge Report story about the government spending millions of stimulus dollars on pork products has earned itself an angry rebuttal from Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who said that some 760,000 pounds of ham were for soup kitchens and homeless shelters. [NY Daily News] French fries at New Yo ... More >>

Special Stuffed Peppers

Three people who bought peppers at a Queens store last night discovered they were stuffed with bags of cocaine. [NY Post]Whole Foods and the Federal Trade Commission have reached a settlement in the Wild Oats case.[Triangle Business Journal]Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Democratic House Spea ... More >>

Gillibrand Supports Sliced Apples For, and From, New York

New senator Kirsten Gillibrand hasn't been able to do much lately besides get in and out of trouble about her guns. Such is the lot of a senate noob even in the best of circumstances. But, perhaps aware that all politics is local, she's going outside the U.S. senate, teaming with state senator Darr ... More >>

People Will Always Need to Eat

People will always need food, a fact that will help farmers weather the economic downturn better than many others.[AP]British police found 15 suspected illegal immigrants covered in cocoa powder in the back of a truck en route to the Mars chocolate factory.[CNN]New secretary of agriculture Tom Vilsa ... More >>

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