More bad news for area burritos: Tyson Fresh Meats is recalling over 40,000 pounds of ground beef in 16 different states, including New York, after the USDA discovered E. coli in a regularly scheduled test of the meat. According to NY1, the company is specifically pulling "10 pound packages of chuck ground beef," so everyone celebrating the 4th of July in December should be extra vigilant. more ›

Some distressing stats come from the USDA today: 2.5 million New Yorkers surveyed between 2008 and 2010 couldn't afford enough food, a number that's jumped by more than 50 percent from 2005-2007. 702,000 state residents are officially going hungry, the highest level ever recorded for the state; and one in seven residents suffer from "low food security," meaning that even if they're not technically going hungry they still can't afford a sufficient supply of food at some point during the year. more ›

The USDA defines a "food desert" as an area where residents must travel a mile to reach an adequate grocery store, and even has a "Food Desert Locator" on their website. According to the agency, East New York doesn't qualify, but city officials beg to differ. While the USDA claims that only 26K New Yorkers are living in food deserts in Staten Island and Queens, the city's own figures bring that number up to 3 million spread over all five boroughs. "We think their map needs work," the city's food policy coordinator tells the Daily News, echoing the city's dismissal of the Fed's census count. more ›

Earlier this week the USDA warned that it had connected 77 illnesses and one death in 26 states to turkey contaminated with an antibiotic-resistant strain of salmonella called Heidelberg. At the time they weren't sure where the bad turkey was coming from, but they seem to have a better idea now. Arkansas-based Cargill Meat Solutions has announced a recall of approximately 36 million pounds of ground turkey products. more ›

Planning on cooking up a nice, juicy turkey burger for dinner tonight? Do make sure that you cook it all the way through. The USDA has issued a public health alert for frozen, fresh and ground turkey products after testing connected 77 illnesses and one death in 26 states to bad turkey contaminated with a salmonella strain called Heidelberg. more ›

We are now well aware that calorie counts can lie but you know what also likes to bend the truth? Meat labels. And not just for the old "let's change the expiration dates to unload old chicken" manner, either. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has noticed that lots of meat labels are not making it very clear when products have been injected with things (mostly salt and water solutions but sometimes things like teriyaki sauce) and it wants to do something about it. more ›

For years, the US Department of Agriculture has been testing meat and poultry, but their policy allowed meat to hit the market before test results taking a maximum of 48 hours came back. Which was usually just enough time to have plenty of people buy and eat contaminated meat before a recall was issued. Realizing this is probably not the best regulatory policy, the USDA announced yesterday that they're proposing a new requirement that would prohibit meat and poultry producers from sending their products to grocery stores until contamination test results came back clear. So, what took them so long? more ›

Pressured-to-resign USDA employee Shirley Sherrod was on the Today show this morning and declared, "I really would not want the president to apologize to me. I'd love to have a conversation with him, though ... You know, I'd like to talk to him a little bit about the experience of people like me. People at the grassroots level. People who live out there in rural America, people who live in the south." [Via Daily Intel, which points out, "President Obama wants to get involved in another racial controversy like he wants another giant oil spill."] more ›

The Ringling Bros. troupe is biting back at PETA, following the animal rights organization's latest attempt to shut them down. Yesterday PETA asked that feds not renew the circus's animal exhibitor license, but rather let it expire on the 28th. But today the Daily News reports that the license was already renewed last week! The circus's spokesman Steve Payne told them, "This is another indication that PETA doesn't know what they are talking about." He went on to address their charges that they abuse their elephants (which they have released video of), by saying, "Our elephants are amazingly treated. They are the stars of the show. We've been inspected by the USDA so far five times this year." PETA says they are contacting the USDA to revoke the permit. more ›

Last weekend, "hundreds of birds...dropped dead on Somerset County cars, porches and snow-covered lawns," according to the Star-Ledger. The birds were all starlings and it turns out USDA had sprayed a farm with pesticide to kill the birds, whose droppings were contaminating farm animals' food. The USDA admitted it wasn't handled well—"Unfortunately, this was also done on a Friday, so the birds died on the weekend when no one was around to respond to calls. I can just imagine it would have been very disconcerting for people to find the birds dead"—but now two Congressman want to make sure their constituents are prepared if they see dozens of bird corpses on their lawns.; the AP reports that Reps. Rush Holt and Frank Pallone Jr. are asking for an investigation. While the USDA says there was no health threat to residents, PETA describes, "DRC-1339 kills birds by attacking their kidneys, eventually resulting in total renal failure and death. This is a slow, torturous process that can take up to several days." more ›

After the Humane Society revealed a tape of mistreatment of cows at the nation's "No. 2 supplier of ground beef to the National School Lunch Program," burgers and other beef products were temporarily yanked off NYC schools' menus. The U.S. Department of Agriculture had put an "administrative hold" on all products from Hallmark Meat Packing Packing in Chino, CA and asked all schools to stop using products from Westland/Hallmark Meat. more ›