How to ensure food and drink water safety during a flood or other natural disaster, courtesy of
the FDA
and the
USDA.
posted by MartinWisse
on May 20, 2013 -
12 comments
Environmental and Native American activists in Flagstaff, AZ
face federal charges for allegedly "interfering with a forest officer" after a protest action in which they
"quarantined" the Coconino National Forest Service lobby to protest a decision permitting the expansion of the Arizona Snowbowl ski resort onto the
San Fransisco Peaks – a site
regarded as sacred by the Navajo, Hopi, and Havasupai people. The proposed expansion entails the use of
treated sewage effluent, aka reclaimed wastewater for snowmaking operations. These events occurred on the same day that the USDA and Forest Service issued a
final report (pdf) which outlines recommendations for working more closely with Native representatives surrounding sacred sites issues.
posted by Scientist
on Dec 11, 2012 -
19 comments
Are Healthy Foods Really More Expensive? (6.78 MB PDF) It turns out that it depends on how you measure the price. In a recent study by the
USDA, some 4,439 foods were compared using the following metrics: the price of food energy ($/calorie), the price of edible weight ($/100 edible grams), the price of an average portion ($/average portion), and the cost of meeting the federal dietary recommendations for each food group. The study found that for all metrics except the price of food energy ($/calorie) healthy foods cost less than less healthy foods (defined as foods that are high in saturated fat, added sugar, and/or sodium, or that contribute little to meeting dietary recommendations).
posted by Jasper Friendly Bear
on Oct 20, 2012 -
123 comments
Atomic Bread Making At Home is an in-depth article covering the ingredients, manufacture, and chemistry of; market research into; and social impact of the 1950's-era USDA No.1 white pan loaf.
posted by TheDonF
on Feb 7, 2012 -
23 comments
But beyond the disgust element was another more important question concerning borax: was it actually safe to eat? This troubling issue was the reason why squad members were imbibing the compound at Christmas, the reason for the Poison Squad experiments themselves. Established by a famously outspoken, crusading chemist from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Harvey Washington Wiley, the squads were also meant to answer another, larger question: were manufacturers actually poisoning the food supply?
posted by liketitanic
on Jul 12, 2011 -
19 comments
"
Indeed, 90 percent of the world’s wheat has little or no protection against the Ug99 race of P. graminis. If nothing is done to slow the pathogen, famines could soon become the norm — from the Red Sea to the Mongolian steppe — as Ug99 annihilates a crop that provides a third of our calories."
[more inside]
posted by SpringAquifer
on Mar 1, 2010 -
36 comments
"The USDA PLANTS database provides standardized information about the vascular plants, mosses, liverworts, hornworts, and lichens of the U.S. and its territories." Among the highlights are a
list of culturally significant plants and a
searchable image gallery you can submit photos to.
Forestry Images is a similar USDA-supported site dedicated to silviculture.
If that isn't enough for you, click on over to the
Germplasm Resources Information Network. There, you'll find a smorgasbord of information on virtually all the food varieties commercially raised in the US:
where the germplasm is held,
lists of species at each site,
detailed descriptions of individual accessions (e.g., cultivars), even
who owns the Red Silk Radish.
If it grows and you can
eat,
drink,
smoke or
inject it, the USDA probably has it cataloged. And if they don't, search
one of these.
posted by cog_nate
on Dec 6, 2006 -
7 comments
Find out what's in it before it's in you ... using
free software provided by the US Department of Agriculture's database. The information, which can be kept on a PC (Windows) or PDA (Palm OS), provides a detailed listing of nutrients (calories, protein, fat, carbs, sugars, vitamins, minerals) on almost 7,000 foods, including processed and fast foods.
posted by crunchland
on Jan 21, 2006 -
19 comments
"I... Forgot." Upon the death of a possible BSE cow, "the unidentified doctor preserved the brain stem sample in formalin... but then 'simply forgot' about it until mid-July." That's the reason why we're only hearing about it now. Any
questions?
posted by soyjoy
on Jul 27, 2005 -
50 comments
USDA releases new food pyramid(s). Instead of one cogent nutritional guideline for all Americans, the USDA has
released a dozen because "one size doesn't fit all." Dietitians have advocated
revision for a while now but change has been slow. According to author
Marion Nestle, the nutritional guidelines have become
highly politized by industry lobbyists: "My first day on the job, I was given the rules: No matter what the research indicated, the report could not recommend 'eat less meat' as a way to reduce intake of saturated fat." Newspeak for sweets appears to be
discretionary calories; are we doing any better?
posted by fatllama
on Apr 19, 2005 -
29 comments
Strike at Government Lab Enters Third Month. This is happening at the Plum Island Animal Disease Center, which studies highly contagious viruses. Maintenance workers are on strike and the replacement workers have been involved with missing equipment and an accident. The
official site boldly declares that "Not once in our more than 40 years of operation has an animal pathogen escaped from Plum Island." Somehow I am not filled with confidence. And, while they say they only deal with animal pathogens, there is a lot of crossover with Foot and Mouth and West Nile. Should we be worried about this?
posted by sciatica
on Oct 14, 2002 -
3 comments
"It's safe to bite when the temperature is right!" "Thermy (TM) is the messenger of a national consumer education campaign designed to promote the use of food thermometers, developed by the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)." Have you
ever used a food thermometer when cooking at home?
posted by nickmark
on Oct 11, 2002 -
32 comments
