Why You Really Shouldn’t Trust the USDA

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is a souring stew of contradictions, namely in its joint venture to protect consumers while promoting industry. More often than not, consumers have been at the losing end of these conflicting interests, which is why a new, outraged percentage of the population, like those of us perusing One Green Planet, is now fighting for better food. We just can’t trust the USDA.

The USDA has long been involved in shady stuff, such as massive subsidies in 1959, to the tune of $2 billion, for crop reduction. Farmers, ironically due to USDA research and development, were overproducing, and that year it cost half a billion dollars to simply store the excess crops. Even so, we’ve never stopped creating surpluses.

But, that’s not-so-ancient history. There are plenty of current, infuriating reasons not to trust the USDA some fifty-plus years later. It seems with the USDA, our budget bulges as bad as the nation’s collective waistband, and our health just keeps getting worse. Here’s the latest:

The USDA Has Been Good for GMOs While They’ve Been Bad for Us

According to a PBS interview with Charles Margulis of Greenpeace, of over 5,000 applications for field trials of genetically engineered crops, the USDA has never denied one. Though the EU has been requiring GMO labels since the 90s, the U.S. continues to drag its heels. Why isn’t the USDA concerned for U.S. citizens? Is there a conflict of interests at play? In fact, the USDA’s been paying for GMO crops. No wonder they don’t want us to know our food is dangerous. It would really hurt sales, wouldn’t it?

Speaking of Labels: What Exactly Does USDA Organic Mean?

The Washington Post reports that many of those marked up products with the white and green labels are not on the level. Starting with baby food — yes, baby food — the USDA has made some questionable decisions regarding what is organic: wood starch in organic cheese, non-organic hops in organic beer, and even organic mock duck, that classic, has synthetic ingredients. So, what’s the point of putting the label on there? Major food corporations like Kraft and Coca-Cola have moved into the organic foods corner, and it’s almost as if the regulations have gotten more lax to satisfy the companies.

Other Fouled Up Regulations: Putting More Meat Back into School Lunches

Despite alarming statistics regarding the over-consumption of meat in the U.S., as observed in our obesity and pulmonary problems, the USDA has recently decided to allow more flexibility in adding meat and grains to school lunches. The former restrictions were in an effort to combat weight problems, but complaints came in that lunches were too skimpy. So, the first thought was to add more “protein” –known as meat and cheese in the school lunch world — rather than vegetables or beans. If school lunches needed to be bigger, meat didn’t have to be, should not have been, the answer. A “healthy” diet for our kids just never quite jives with research.

Public Safety Measures Just Get in the Way of the USDA

Most recently, there has been soup-stirring in the poultry industry. The USDA elected to lessen inspections (saving U.S. tax payers $30 million by laying off inspectors) while, at the same time, speeding up production lines (saving the poultry industry upwards of $250 million a year). Sure, antibiotic resistant pathogens like salmonella might, then, become an even more serious problem, but the USDA has yet another answer: more anti-bacterial sprays. Of course, we can’t risk public safety by letting small local chicken farmers sell their less speedy product. I don’t even eat chicken and still find my jaw dropping in appall.

The USDA’s New Dietary Guidelines, MyPlate, Confused Even Harvard

One Green Planet has already reported the many varied faults of the USDA’s MyPlate guidelines. But, we are not alone: Harvard was so initial thrown off by the USDA’s guideline that experts created an alternative version — the Healthy Eating Plate. For a small sampling of problems all over the spectrum, experts note that all grains are not equal, we don’t need dairy, and fruit juice is not the same as whole fruit. The USDA continues to push the same old foods, despite lots of evidence that plant-based diets are much healthier than those including animal products, even low-fat milk and lean meats.

By this point, you should be sufficiently angry, but the list could go on. In the end, it’s important to remember the USDA is, in fact, the Department of Agriculture, which doesn’t line up with looking out for those of us buying agricultural products. That the USDA is in any way in charge of both is simply ludicrous.

Image source: Dlz28 / Wikimedia Commons