Obama Friday Date Night: Dinner & Dancing...Well, Just Dancing

The President is getting somewhat chewed on in the media today for attending a performance with Michelle last night at The Kennedy Center, as part of their tradition of Friday Date Night. The AP news wire set the tone for all traditional media reports: While senators worked into the night on an economic stimulus plan, President Barack Obama could sit back and relax....

Cat's away, Senate decides to pay: None of the 319 news stories currently on the internets about the Obama Friday Date Night fails to mention the Senate working for hours, while the Obamas were watching the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater whirl the boards. Subtle criticism, yet still fairly obvious.

Obama Friday Date Nights usually include dinner out on the town, but the media navel gazing for last night failed to mention whether the Obamas dined at any of The Kennedy Center restaurants, like the Roof Terrace Restaurant & Bar, or the KC Cafe, so we're assuming not. Today, they're off to Camp David in Maryland. Yes, they have chefs with them. Nope, no public policy statements regarding what food they'll be eating on the sleep-over.... First daughters Malia and Sasha also attended the performance; usually they're left at home on Date Night, to coo-coo-ca-choo with Mrs. Robinson, who is their grandma/Michelle's mother.

Other publicly recorded Obama Date Nights, which included restaurants: The first post-election date, in Chicago at Spiaggia on November 8, and the one the week before The Inauguration, on January 14, at DC's Equinox.

*Visit Spiagia's website here for your own Obama Friday Date Night foodie sleuthing; Equinox is here.
*Pic of the President and First Lady in the President's Box at Kennedy Center is from AP.

Barack & Gravy: A Counter-Culture Icon, Advice From a Six-Year-Old, & The Economic Stimulus Package

From the Six Degrees of Obama Foodorama playbook:

During Campaign Season, counter-culture 60's-era icon, musician and activist Wavy Gravy (at left) endorsed Bam, which surprised many people, since Mr. Gravy is notable for his preference to not support political figures. Mr. Gravy also once had a Ben & Jerry's ice cream named after him (the creatively titled Wavy Gravy, made with caramel & cashews), just like Bam (Yes Pecan!). The royalties from Mr. Gravy's ice cream enabled him to do all kinds of awesome things, like support a children's camp, before B & J stopped making it.

And suddenly gravy is all over the Bam landscape. Reporter Robert Toppo has collected letters of presidential advice for Barack from school children around the US in Thanks and Have Fun Running the Country. There's an excellent addition to the trope of professional foodies banging the pots at Bam to force him to announce every single thing he eats as a way of changing food policy in America:

I would fill the White House with chocolate and gravy (but not together) and mashed potatoes or maybe fill it with root beer. I'd drive through the White House on a boat. We'd make the floor out of mashed potatoes and the house would be filled with mashed potatoes.…I'd have a couch made out of pudding that you could eat with a giant spoon. And I'd have a pizza carpet.

We're pretty sure the six-year-old idea man who wrote this is working on a Food Politics column for Gourmet mag, because it's about as well reasoned as the Ruth Reichl/Alice Waters demand for White House chefs to become healthy-eats preachers from the "bully pulpit" of the kitchen at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Conversely, the kid could also be talking about the Economic Stimulus package....

Last night, Bam and the Senate reached a deal on the Stim package, which provides much-needed gravy to desperate citizens across the country. The current version of the bill is devoid of "pork," and expected to cost about the same as the $819 billion approved by the House, but far lower than the bill as amended on the Senate floor, which had grown to more than $930 billion. Yes pecan spend a lot and provide hope for change!

*An excellent Wavy Gravy video is here.

Pic at top of post is from Barack Obama NOW!, the oldest Bam Blog on the net, snapped at San Francisco's Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival in October, 2008.

House Ag Chair Collin Peterson Dislikes Chuck Hassebrook Almost As Much As He Disdains Organics & Obama

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack is suddenly adopting the progressive rhetoric of food activists like Michael Pollan and Nicholas Kristof, who've both called for big changes in the USDA. In an interview with the Washington Post, Vilsack just announced a previously unheard-of concept for the USDA: That it should also represent people who eat food, not just the people who grow food, which both Pollan and Kristof have been busily promoting.

"This [USDA] is a department that intersects the lives of Americans two to three times a day. Every single American," Vilsack told Wa Po. "So I absolutely see the constituency of this department as broader than those who produce our food -- it extends to those who consume it."

Given USDA's historic stance as a walled castle of agribusiness, it's amazing that Vilsack is going on the record with such a progressive statement. Even better, Vilsack currently has a huge opportunity to really put words in to action for change, by appointing Chuck Hassebrook as his deputy secretary, something Kristof also supported in an op-ed piece. The director of the Center for Rural Affairs, Hassebrook is not only a visionary in terms of reforming the way government deals with agriculture, but he's also got huge grassroots traction. A petition supporting his candidacy from Food Democracy Now! has gotten almost 85,000 signatures.

We blogged here about Washingtonians who oppose Hassebrook as deputy secretary, but there's another big player in the ag drama. Blue Dog Dem and Chair of the House Agriculture Committee Collin Peterson (D in name only, Minnesota) is a cheerleader for corporate farming, and has supported all kinds of policies that aren't necessarily good for the health of the eaters of America--genetic engineering for crops, environmentally questionable confined animal feeding operations, trading in crop futures...y'know, all the 20th century modernizations that have driven US farming into enslavement to corporate interests. Peterson's now proudly strolling around DC, telling reporters and aides that he's been very actively involved in killing the candidacy of progressive noms for deputy secretary, based on differences of opinion. Jim Weisemeyer from Agweb.com writes that when Rep. Peterson was asked about deputy secretary candidates, Peterson said "...it appears to have slowed down...possibly because I and others had some real problems with some of the people they were considering, and I made my views known...." Beltway ag insiders report that the main target of Peterson's ire has been Chuck Hassebrook. (Above: Peterson, at right, in front of a lil' bit o' farm equipment)

Peterson is wildly opposed to Hassebrook's ethical position on capping government subsidies for farmers; Peterson believes there should be no limit on the amount of government cash farmers get. Hassebrook has argued for subsidy caps because the payments are based on acreage, and farmers who own more acreage get larger payments, which puts small operations at an unfair disadvantage in the ag marketplace. We're really wondering how Peterson came to his conclusion that subsidies should be unlimited; he voted against Barack's Economic Stimulus package because he believes it's a wickedly bad financial move on the part of government. Aren't unlimited subsidies for farmers also the kind of thing that should make Peterson's hackles rise? It's pork barrel spending pure and simple, and makes no financial sense. Barack himself is an advocate for capping subsides for farmers, so Peterson's going against the Big Guy on multiple fronts.

Worse, Peterson now seems pretty tone deaf when it comes to Tom Vilsack's enlightened position. In the same Wa Po story noted above, Vilsack said that part of his new vision for USDA is to "expand farmers' choices to include opportunities in energy and in the growing market for organic and whole foods."

Peterson has gone on the record about organics, and it ain't pretty. Here's a really interesting bit of an article from Financial Times:

Collin Peterson, chairman of the House of Representatives agricultural committee, says the farm sector that raises organic produce and grass-fed beef for local consumers needs little federal help.

"It is growing, and it has nothing to do with the government, and that is good," he told the FT. "For whatever reason, people are willing to pay two or three times as much for something that says 'organic' or 'local'. Far be it from me to understand what that's about, but that's reality. And if people are dumb enough to pay that much then hallelujah."

In addition to Vilsack's support of organics, Barack's also said he'd like to support organics; this is part of the Obama Biden Rural Agenda. In terms of ag policy making, Peterson needs to enter the the 21st century and the Obama administration. Not only are the eaters of America depending on him, but his re-election might be in the balance, if the huge support of Food Democracy Now! is any indication.

Tom Vilsack Busts USDA Doctors For Partying With Animal Drugs

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack has placed nineteen USDA biologists and veterinarians on administrative leave following a months-long investigation into illegal personal use of animal drugs, according to Iowa's KCCI TV.

Vilsack told the TV station that the USDA docs at The National Animal Disease Center in Ames, Iowa, used their veterinary credentials to purchase drugs through the USDA, at prices lower than what they'd pay on the street. Antibiotics, pain killers and vitamins intended for animals were being used by the USDA docs in a super-creative party-down scheme.

Vilsack was careful to say that the drugs were used at the employees' homes (right!), by the employees themselves, their family members and sometimes their pets. Vilsack said the accusations, if true, would indicate the practice had been going on for years.

Vilsack (at left) said he's ordered two investigations into the USDA labs: The first will find out how the employees were able to order and use the drugs, and the second investigation will look at how the practice could go on for years with out administrators discovering it. Um, how about ordering an investigation into how skewed the results of research conducted at the National Animal Disease Center might be because the scientists were stoned while working? How about shutting down the entire facility until it's determined what kind of other illegal activities are going on there, if illegal drug use has been happening for years?

"We want to send a message to Iowans and to the country that we're an administration and department that will hold people accountable," Vilsack said.

Yeah, and we hope those stoned USDA employees paid their taxes, too!

International Barack Homage: The Obunma

Sent in by Eugenia Lin, our gal on the ground in Shanghai, China: The pic above is a savory baked confection in honor of Barack, and it's still popular across Asia three weeks after The Inauguration. It's made with tomatoes, ham, and egg, and "harmonized" with cheese, according to the label.

Maybe Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will eat some Obunma when she makes her first trip abroad to Asia, later this month. Eugenia tells us the baked yummies are being sold in Hong Kong, Malaysia, China, and the Philippines. Hillary's headed for Beijing!

The pic was snapped in Singapore.

Timing is Everything: Rep. Rosa DeLauro & The Food Safety Modernization Act

We've long been under the impression that the only time food and drugs should be in the same room are when people like Michael Phelps are enjoying an Olympic-size bag of organic corn chips and some nice, homegrown hydroponic herb. Thus, the Food and Drug Administration as a regulatory entity has never quite made sense to us, because food and drug regulation each cover far too much ground to be under the umbrella of a single agency.

Thus we're a little excited about Rep. Rosa DeLauro's (CT-3) proposed "Food Safety Modernization Act," (FSMA) which might soon be introduced into Congress. We say a little excited, because the heroic and tireless Rep. DeLauro has introduced similar versions of this Act before--and they've all died in committee, like unfortunate victims of food poisoning. The FSMA does have some Swell Ideas, though: It seeks to establish a Food Safety Administration within the US Department of Health and Human Services, outside the purview of FDA, in order to coordinate and modernize our food monitoring system. The ultimate goal is that the FDA itself will turn into two entities; one for food, the other for drugs. And there are some Swell Ideas in the FSMA:

1. Requiring food companies to implement preventive plans and meet performance standards for contaminants in food.
2. Creating a system for certifying the safety of imported foods.
3. Establishing a strong risk-based inspection regime for food companies.
4. Granting the government explicit authority over all food-production facilities.
5. Enabling enforcement tools: Mandatory recalls, civil penalties.

These Swell Ideas are swinging for the fences in their scope, and that's a good thing, because once industry lobbyists get their mitts on the Act, it'll be dismantled piece by piece; perhaps part of it will remain intact. But there are also a lot of problems with the FSMA, we're sorry to say.

Swell Idea #1 is already heading in to vagueness; the definition of contaminants is as wildly disputed among food regulatory agencies as were hanging chads. Swell Idea #2 is almost laughable; at the moment, less than one percent of imported food is inspected, and we import, dollar for dollar, more food annually than the entire EconomicStim package is going to cost. How on earth are we going to inspect all the food that routinely floods across our borders?

Swell Idea #3 makes perfect sense, but when is food not risk based? We're talking perishable commodities here. Thus everything gets inspected, which means food becomes wildly expensive, as inspection costs are passed along to consumers. Food prices have already skyrocketed, unemployment has skyrocketed...it's a Swell Idea, but um, yeah. How much is a gallon of milk, again?

Swell Idea #4 will never happen in the United States of America, because despite socializing our banking system in recent months, we still like to labor under the delusion that we're a free-market economy, and it'd be terrific to continue our fantasy that industry, in general, is capable of regulating itself. This has historically not been the case with the modern, mechanized version of food production, but there're plenty of people who'll argue this point to death before they bow to Government having "explicit control." And meantime, more people will die from eating poisoned food.

As for Swell Idea #5: Yes, you are reading correctly. There is currently no such thing in the US as a mandatory recall for contaminated food, as we've pointed out repeatedly here at ObFo . And criminal producers getting civil penalties for killing people with contaminated products are about as rare as Oprah fitting into a size 6--it happens about once a decade.

All of these Swell Ideas seem head-shakingly obvious to those who follow food safety, and to those who are worried about eating poisoned food, but there are more problems. To get all these Swell Ideas into place requires things that are currently in short supply. The first is agreement--despite our new Spirit of Bipartisanship on Capitol Hill...Dems and Reps have wildly different ideas about food safety. And we've already mentioned the another thing that's in short supply on Capitol Hill--cash. It'll take huge funding across the board, for hiring and training managers and inspectors, for updating technological capabilities, for creating an entirely new regulatory entity, for blah blah blah.

But perhaps the biggest problem with the FSMA is that food safety in America is in crisis mode. And we're not just talking about peanut butter. It's a grave situation across almost every kind of food industry, with 76 million people falling ill each year, and more than 5,500 dying. In fact, we can't even accurately calculate the number of people who actually get sick and die during outbreaks, because monitoring has been so poor. But we do know there are thousands more citizens who sufferg life-long effects from having lived through a food poisoning; these include but aren't limited to stroke and brain injury, renal failure, seizure disorders, paralysis. So while we'd be happy to personally take a couple of axes to the FDA offices when the time comes, now is not the right time. The FDA and Centers for Disease Control need to have leadership, as does the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service. If we even fulfilled half of the current food safety mandates as they currently exist, and tweaked a couple others--particularly in meat inspections--the US food supply would be far, far safer in just a year's time. When the Titanic was sinking, there was no point in rearranging the deck chairs, was there? We're halfway into the water right now, in terms of food safety.

Lastly: Yesterday's Tom Daschle exuent, stage left! maneuver also makes getting the FSMA rapidly put in to place within the Department of Health and Human Services highly unlikely, as the department could be spinning in free fall for a good long while. And, too, Daschle's primary focus was on health care reform within the drug and medical industries; there's no good reason to believe that his replacement won't have a similar focus. Food will be sidelined, as many Senators warned before the Inauguration. Sadly, there'll be no dash to the finish line in food safety, a la Michael Phelps, because we're swimming through the wake of a monstrous, sinking ship.

So while we're really wishing Rep. DeLauro's FSMA was law yesterday, in truth it's a long way away from becoming reality. Meantime, you couldn't pay us to eat ground beef, or peanut butter, or cantaloupes, or pork, or chicken, or leafy greens from California, or anything from China, or...or you name it, and we're not eating it.

Currently we're dining out solely on hope, because that's about the only thing that's safe.

*Susan Heavey at Reuters analyzes how the Daschle exit will slow down the appointment of a new FDA head, here.

No More Food & Wine From California Unless Obama Makes Big Changes, Warns Energy Secretary

Dr. Steven Chu, Secretary of Energy, makes dire predictions about California agriculture in his first interview since being appointed last month as Secretary of Energy. Dr. Chu says that thanks to global warming, up to 90% of the Sierra snowpack could disappear, which will eliminate the natural storage system for water vital to agriculture, and demolishg the state's ability to support farms and vineyards. California is the largest ag state in the US.

Dr. Chu also warns that water shortages could plague the rest of the West and Upper Midwest, threatening ag production elsewhere.

"I don't think the American public has gripped in its gut what could happen," Dr. Chu tells the LA Times. "We're looking at a scenario where there's no more agriculture in California...and I don't actually see how they can keep their cities going."

We should note that Dr. Chu is not a climate scientist; he won the Nobel for work trapping atoms with laser light. He taught at Stanford University and directed the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where he reoriented researchers to pursue "clean energy" technologies to help reduce the use of greenhouse-gas-emitting fossil fuels in the U.S., before Barack chose him to head the Energy Department. But in his Congressional confirmation hearings, he made the same dire predictions about global warming, though with less urgency.

*Read more on Dr. Chu's predictions here.

Cocktails At The White House...Again. May We Suggest Budget Lobster?

In what might turn into a weekly event, Bam and Michelle will be hosting another bi-partisan White House cocktail party tonight, according to Politico44. White House Social Secretary Desirée Rogers--no stranger to good times & cocktails, as she's a former two-time Mardi Gras Queen--told NPR last week that the events are strictly polibusiness.

“My belief is that we don't always get everything accomplished over a meeting table," Ms. Rogers said. "Many times it's over cocktails, it's over dinner and so the other piece to our work will be what kind of events can we create?" (Ms. Rogers, in pic)

Hmm, how about a parade, in which cash, food, & bottles of Hennessy 44, a special cognac created in honor of Bam, are tossed off floats, to the gathered masses? Last week's cocktail soiree caught the attention of irate conservative bloggers like Michelle Malkin, because Wagyu beef was served; Wagyu, for those following along who aren't foodies, is extraordinarily high-priced meat, and the Cons were foaming at the mouth that Bam dared to serve the dish during tough economic times. The Cons were pegging the Wagyu at about $100 per serving. That might be close to accurate: The Washington, DC/Baltimore-area Costco is selling a 15-pound Wagyu boneless roast for $2,299.99. Nope, not a misprint. But y'know, no one is 'fessing up where the White House sources its food. Interestingly, no one seemed to care that Chicken Curry was served, too; no international commentators weighed in.

A better food option to avoid criticism of Bam being "tone deaf" during an economic meltdown? Lobster, which was widely mis-reported as one of Michelle Obama's fave foods last year, during Election Season, as part of the general Arugula Elitism charges being tossed at The Obamas. Lobster's not Michelle's fave, but it is an "All American" food, and according to lobster expert Trevor Corson, lobster is currently the cheapest it's been in years, thanks to excellent fisheries management by Maine lobster men. The lobster men are "victims" of their own success, but hey, aren't we all? Cue soundtrack for credit markets crumbling....

*Desirée Rogers photo by Jonathan Becker for Vogue. Cognac is Hennessy's limited edition 44, which Hennessy is marketing to an "urban" audience.

The Ethicurean Action Plan: Changing The US Food System

The visionary folks over at The Ethicurean, one of our favorite blogs, have polled a big group of farmers, chefs, activists, eaters, and food philosophers to clarify which policies the United States Department of Agriculture, led by recently confirmed Secretary Tom Vilsack, could reasonably put in place over the next six months to create real change in the US food system. They come up with ten points for a concrete, short-term action plan, which, if adopted, really would rein in the terrible direction American food policy has gone in the the last century. Given that we have decades of bad policies to make up for, and that we're almost a decade into a new century...it's time to get moving. The Ethicureans also make note of something that has shocked many in the food/ag world: In the Rural Agenda posted by the Obama Administration at Whitehouse.gov on January 20, neither food nor farming merited discrete action agendas. This is beyond odd; it's as if rural issues are being codified entirely as technology, education, and financial issues....

It's obviously too early to determine what direction USDA is heading, but the choice of a deputy ag secretary is crucial, and yesterday's ouster of Secretary of Health and Human Services nom Tom Daschle will have some unknown impact. The entire Ethicurean list and plan can be downloaded here as a PDF; below are the Ethicurean talking points, which if instituted, would cause a profound and hopeful change in the food/farming world:

1. Make the USDA once again the “people’s department” with staff that answer to citizens before corporations.
2. Start supporting diversified, decentralized food systems right now, and stop risking American lives by encouraging all our eggs to be put in one basket (or hamburger in one plant, peanuts in one processor…).
3. Stop using the nation’s kids as a garbage disposal.
4. Give us clear information about where our food comes from and how it was produced.
5. Start protecting us from food gone wrong, and GE crops gone wild.
6. Usher in a new era of conservation.
7. Make a firm investment in non-biotech agricultural research – and make sure it stays in the public domain.
8. Help more people become farmers, and help the ones who’ve made that difficult choice succeed.
9. Level the pasture for small farmers and ranchers.
10. Realize where the market has failed and help us weather it.

At The Ethicurean, Part 1 of the Ready, Set, Go Change The Food System list is here; part 2 is here.
*Image at top of post is by your intrepid blogger, snapped on Inauguration Day in Washington, in front of one of the Ag department buildings

Plowing Through The Economic Stimulus Plan...What About Food and Farming?

Barack has allocated a lowball $27 billion dollars of his Economic Stimulus Plan's $825 billion budget to food and farming programs, according to an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office. And yep, it's cringe-inducing to call 27 billion dollars lowball, but it's just 3.3% of the total cash. Here's how it breaks down:

Chowbama: Most of the funds are going to nutrition assistance, at $21 billion. Food stamp benefits would rise 13.6% from current benefit levels to improve and expand food assistance programs, including food stamps (now known as the SNAP program); meals for the elderly; after-school food programs for children; and the WIC program (the Special Nutrition Supplement Program for Women, Infants and Children).

E Ticket: Rural development programs would receive $5.1 billion, including $2.8 billion to deploy broadband technology in rural areas; the rest would go to rural housing and business development.

The Poopular Vote: $1.5 billion has been allocated directly for rural water and waste disposal projects.

It's Not Pretty: $498 million has been earmarked for “infrastructure development and maintenance within the US Department of Agriculture,” including new computer systems for Farm Service Agency offices; and building repairs to the USDA headquarters in Washington.

Heartland Katrina Rescue: "Only" $400 million (just over 1/10th of 1 percent of money allocated to farming and food) will find its way directly onto farms in the form of flood control projects and dam reconstruction administered by the Natural Resources Conservation Service.

No money has been allocated to restore soil or biodiversity infrastructure, which is crucial for farm and ranch productivity (See Wendell Berry and Wes Jackson's op-ed about why soil is important here); and there's no money in the program to stimulate food/farm-related jobs in rural communities. There's also no money for bio-fuel support, rural transportation, and tax relief for farmers. The Economic Stimulus plan can't, really, be termed progressive. Time to get urban, huh?

How does this measure up to what's really needed for change in food and farming issues? Tom Philpott, at Grist, has some more enlightened ideas.

The Hard Times Obama Cupcake

At a moment when Our President is publicly saying "I screwed up," and many Americans are reeling from the idea that there are now at least a dozen former lobbyists working for the Obama Administration despite promises of transparency and a new era of government...we're liking this simple cupcake as a reminder of what the real issues are.

Hard working Americans, in hard times, with simple hopes and dreams, looking for change. Nothing fancy, mind you, just a return to the kind of vision that built America. We're thinking Honest Abe would've liked this cupcake....

*Cupcake from Amanda R, a Californian, who noted that it's the kind of cupcake that makes sense for someone who lives in a state that is now issuing IOUs to pay its bills....

The Peanut Butter Contamination Scandal: It's Not About Sasha Obama...But It Is Shameful

It's a little disturbing that in an interview with the Today show's Matt Lauer, President Obama called out his own child as one of the reasons the peanut butter contamination scandal should claim our attention, the attention of lawmakers, and the attention of government agencies:

"That's [peanut butter] what Sasha eats for lunch probably three times a week. And you know, I don't want to have to worry about whether she's going to get sick as a consequence to having her lunch," Obama said.

It's wildly unlikely that Sasha Obama will ever be exposed to contaminated foods, because the Obamas now live in a house that has the most careful food sourcing protocol in America, with a staff of chefs monitoring every morsel of food that gets on to the historic china plates. In a recent interview with Obama Foodorama, former White House chef Walter Scheib discussed the scrupulousness of White House food safety. From secret, randomized sourcing to an intense monitoring of the food once it is inside White House kitchens, Mr. Scheib explained that food safety protocols are intense, and were amped up even further after the events of 9/11.

"Food safety is very, very thorough at the White House," Mr. Scheib said. "You do not want to go down in history as the person who poisons the president."

Yes, that would be a very dubious position to hold. Nor do you want to be the person who poisons the president's children. But given the amount of security clearance White House staff must endure, and the perpetual presence of Secret Service agents, we can all rest assured that the president's children aren't going to be harmed by food any time soon. And let's keep in mind, too, while parsing Barack's response, that Sasha and Malia are also privileged to attend the private Sidwell Friends school, which has two model lunch programs, with an intense focus on where and how food is sourced, run by chef Rachelle Hill. The Sidwell Friends school lunch program did not receive jumbo vats of contaminated peanut butter from the Peanut Corporation of America, as many public school lunch programs did. And a further example of how the Obama girls have been entirely outside the scope of the regular food supply in America, for a long time: Private chef Sam Kass was cooking at the Obama household even before they moved in to the White House.

Barack suggesting that food should be safe because his kids eat it, too, is sincerity with a bad case of salmonella poisoning. Food safety should be on Barack's radar because Americans are exposed to contaminated food on a daily basis. It doesn't take much for the regular American eater to be exposed to poisoned food, because in addition to few workable food safety protocols being in existence, much of the American food supply is contaminated, whether it's with pathogens, antibiotic residues, heavy metals, melamine, pesticides, or animal dung. Food should be safe because as Americans, we imagine ourselves to be living in a civilized society that is "a light unto the nations," a place where life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness does not include crapping our pants after eating peanut butter crackers--and then dying. So let's borrow an accusatory adjective that Barack recently tossed at the financial industry, and apply it to the state of food safety in America: It's shameful.

It's shameful that people like Clifford Frederick Tousignant, who died on January 12 from salmonella-laced peanut butter, are routinely exposed to poisoned food, because food safety monitoring in America is a train wreck. That's Mr. Tousignant in the picture at the top of the post, with one of his great-grandchildren. A 22-year veteran of the armed forces, and a much-decorated veteran of the Korean War, Mr. Tousignant was the father of six children. He was a beloved member of his community in Minnesota, and is sadly survived by his children, as well as a brother, two sisters, 15 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren. How do you make sense of the loss of someone who bravely served his country in war time, then died at home, from eating tainted food? It's beyond shameful. (Above: Some of Mr. Tousignant's medals from his valorous service, in a pic snapped at his funeral)

It's shameful that the Blakely, Georgia peanut butter plant that is the source of the salmonella contamination was inspected by the FDA only twice in the last decade.

It's shameful that FDA officials needed permission from Peanut Butter Corporation of America before they could even issue a recall for the contaminated products. This is routine for product recalls in the US--and shameful.

It's shameful that there are still potentially contaminated products on store shelves and in households around America (and in other countries) because there are limited recall protocols in place, and no civil or criminal sanctions for those who do not remove contaminated products from the marketplace. And while we're on the subject of recalls: Kudos must be given to very responsible suppliers, like Costco, which did not wait for government agencies to get their collective asses in gear. Costco pulled potentially contaminated products off their shelves before the government took action. Craig Wilson, an assistant vice-president at Costco, informed the NY Times--and government officials--that he pulled products from store shelves because he wasn't willing to risk waiting for FDA to make the late call.

“I don’t want to say that you can’t rely on the FDA,” Mr. Wilson said, “but we certainly can move quicker than they do.”

It's shameful that people like FDA's Dr. Stephen Sundlof can admit publicly that his own agents have no idea what they're even looking for when inspecting food producing plants, despite the FDA's massive annual budget. Shame on Dr. Sundlof!

It's shameful that AP reporters and private food safety specialists like Bill Marler are able to get more information about the state of inspections and food safety violations at Peanut Corporation of America than the FDA.

It's shameful that the Congressional response to the current outbreak has been the introduction of a bill that will require food safety inspections by FDA every four years...and that food industry response has been to insist that the government pay for this. Tomorrow, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn) will introduce another food safety bill into congress, and we can only hope that hers is devoid of shamefully absurd elements like infrequent inspections, and that it will actually include real ways to change food safety in the US. (Rep. DeLauro, pictured)

It's shameful that there is no one filling the top spots at the FDA or the Centers for Disease Control, and that an accountant is heading the Food Safety and Inspection Service at the United States Department of Agriculture, rather than a food safety specialist. It's equally shameful that there's no good communication network among these three agencies that can produce a swift and coordinated response to foodborne illness outbreaks. The peanut butter illness outbreak has been going on at least since September of 2008. Shameful!

It's shameful that the president of Peanut Corporation of America, Stewart Parnell, is on the Peanut advisory board of the USDA. Having a supplier with a financial interest in product standards sit on a safety board is a classic example of how misguided the FDA and USDA regulatory capabilities have historically been. Shameful!

It's shameful that during a period of economic crisis, there has been a vast amount of food pulled out of the supply chain, which citizens who are already in desperate financial straits can ill afford to replace. How many people are risking eating contaminated products because they can't afford to throw food away that may not be contaminated? Yet the food must be thrown away, because no one can be certain that they're eating safe products.

It's shameful that the peanut butter recall is just the latest in a series of massive food recalls that have plagued the US food industry for the last two decades, across all manner of products, from greens to fruit to beef, eggs, milk and poultry. Equally shameful: That the food products we import from other countries also tend to be contaminated on a regular basis, because less than one percent of food that crosses our borders actually gets inspected. It's...shameful.

As president, Barack can't worry about contaminated food because he has a personal interest in it, thanks to his lovely daughter--he's required to worry about food safety because it affects every man, woman, and child in America. We're all being exposed to daily mortal danger from something that cannot be avoided: Food. It's easy to give up things we know are dangerous--tobacco, alcohol, drugs--and there's plenty of legal monitoring and criminal sanctions surrounding those "products." We can't give up eating food, or we die. But if you eat food in America these days, you might die anyway. And that's shameful.

Clifford Frederick Tousignant, August 30, 1930-January 12, 2009: RIP. Our deep condolences to his family. Photos courtesy of the Tousignant family.

What's On The Menu For Tom Daschle's Farewell Dinner?

We'll let you know, but we're certain poor Mr. Daschle will correctly calculate any taxes owed.

In pic: Mr. Daschle toasts his now-invisible cabinet position with an invisible wine glass. Cheers!

Who's Really Blocking Chuck Hassebrook as Deputy Ag Secretary, and Why Are 10,000 Acre Conglomerates Called Family Farms?

In an op-ed in the New York Times today, Nicholas Kristof promos Chuck Hassebrook as the deputy Secretary of Agriculture for the USDA. Mr. Kristof refers to himself as "a former Oregon farm boy," and announces that Tom Vilsack is a "regrettable" choice for Secretary of Agriculture, but maintains that appointing Hassebrook will balance the department. And while Obama Foodorama is still withholding final judgement on Vilsack--it's been two weeks, after all, and we're willing to give the fellow a chance--we do agree that Chuck Hassebrook is the best choice to ensure that both large and small interests are represented (if we're assuming that Big Ag is automatically represented, by the choice of Vilsack as Ag Secretary).

But the Hassebrook appointment is causing turmoil on Capitol Hill, as Big Ag interests protest in horror. Hassbrook is the director of Nebraska's Center for Rural Affairs, and his ethical, pro-small farming approach to US agriculture, and long-time criticism of bloated Farm Bills, as well as his rigorous defense of environmental issues puts him outside the usual beltway take on agriculture (Hassebrook, pictured). Big Ag business practices, which include using genetically modified crops, environmental destruction, and linking food production to credit market imperatives--a disastrous scenario in today's economy--have traditionally been protected by Washington policies.

So who's cock blocking Hassebrook as Deputy secretary of Agriculture? Kristof points to North Dakota Senator Kent Conrad, but doesn't much explain why. So we're happy to give you the background. Senator Conrad, along with the National Farmers Union, is looking to get Jim Miller, who is both a former Conrad staffer and a current NFU staffer, into the deputy spot. Also in on the fight? NFU president Tom Buis, who himself was previously on short lists for Secretary of Agriculture, and who is reportedly still stewing that he didn't get tapped (in pic). Let's be clear about Tom Buis. He's essentially a lobbyist, don'tcha know--a lobbyist who's worked on Capitol Hill--because the National Farmers Union now represents large corporatized farming entities. Buis has been with the NFU since March 1998, and previously served as vice president of government relations, in which he oversaw the NFU Washington, D.C., government relations office (Washington Ag speak code cracker: Lobbying!).

So what's the deal with National Farmers Union, which previously enjoyed the reputation as the protector of family farms? Well, it's become a House Divided, as the definition of what, exactly, a family farm is has come under increasing debate. We're talking economies of scale here: A 10,000 acre "family-owned farm" is profoundly different in its capitalization and where it sells crops, in the use of genetically engineered crops, machines, animal confinement, and energy than is, say, a three/four-hundred-acre family farm. A 10,000 acre family farm, despite being "owned" on paper by a single family, is actually Big Ag, when you parse it. NFU, under Buis's leadership, has increasingly leaned towards protecting the interests of huge family farms (thus protecting the interests of Big Ag), toward commodity programs, and has foregone its progressive history. All of this has been under the guise of savvy ag business moves, promoed as an effort to remain relevant in the world of corporate domination by Monsanto, Cargill, and the troubled Smithfield and Tyson, etc.

The house divided fight boils down to a few ideological discrepancies with the Farm Bill, but they're very important "discrepancies." Key among these--and crucial to the opposition to Chuck Hassebrook--is that Hassebrook has insisted on payment limitations for subsidies being included in Farm Bills. Subsidies help larger concerns flourish--the "farmers" don't have to worry about such precarious things as the rise and fall of corn prices. Unlimited subsidies harm smaller farmers, because the subsidy payments are based on acreage; thus smaller farmers get fewer dollars. In a world of unlimited subsidy payments, big concerns run rampant, and smaller farms are run out of business. So of course Conrad, NFU, and Buis want their man Miller in the deputy secretary position, because this will promote their interests, rather than the interests of true family farms. Hassebrook would work to ensure this kind of policy making does not remain "agribuisness as usual."

We should also point out that Hassebrook's principled call for payment limitations is in line with the Obama Biden Rural Agenda, with Tom Vilsack's own stance on payment limitations, and with Senator Tom Harkin's (D-Iowa) coalition of 43 other Senators, who tried to pass the Dorgan-Grassley Amendment to protect small family farmers.

A final note on Buis: Not only does Buis oppose payment limitations, but he supports environmentally devastating ethanol, and is known for his back-room deals in efforts to get more progressive platforms killed. Prior to joining NFU, Buis served for nearly five years as senior agriculture policy advisor to then-Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) In addition, Buis worked for Rep. Jim Jontz (D-Ind), for nearly five years as legislative assistant and legislative director. He was also special assistant for agriculture to Sen. Birch Bayh (D-Ind). He's been all over the Ag map, and connected to Big Ag at every point.

Although the National Farmers union may be considered somewhat progressive in terms of Ag policy, it would be far better for farmers--and eaters--if the Obama Administration
considered other advice beyond the Conrad/Peterson/NFU/Buis cabal, if they hope to keep their rural grassroots victory alive for 2012; the food and farming activists have only just begun looking at their every action. And while Chuck Hassebrook may not have the backing of Senator Conrad and his band of corporate agribusiness friends, he has garnered massive grass-roots support through the efforts of a group called Food Democracy Now!, which has received more than 84,000 signatures calling for sustainable change at the USDA. Hassberook is change that's essential for a different kind of agriculture in the US.

*Read Chuck Hassebrook's policy vision in an open letter to Tom Vilsack, here.

*Find out more about Food Democracy Now! here.

*Email Tom Vilsack: AgSec@usda.gov to support Chuck Hassebrook.

*Obama farming image from Hammerswing 75

Peanut, Peanutbama, & Smelly: Barack Calls For Revamp of FDA

Barack has finally mentioned the peanut butter contamination scandal, in an interview shot & aired with Matt Lauer yesterday, pre-Superbowl, and also aired this morning on the Today show. Lauer, our fave well-meaning woodchuck, almost drooled on Barack during their chat, but it didn't distract us from the important subject matter.

Barack told Lauer that the FDA has “not been able to catch some of these things as quickly as I expect them to,” and “we’re going to be doing a complete review of FDA operations.”

This is swell. FDA needs more than a single review...it needs to be dismantled and reorganized in to two separate entities--one for pharmaceuticals and one for food--but taking a hard look at the agency is a nice beginning. What also might help food safety? Appointing someone to actually head FDA, as the post has been vacant since December; appointing someone to head the Centers for Disease Control, as the post has also been vacant since December; and putting a real professional in the position of the undersecretary at USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service, rather than interim appointee Ron Hicks, who is essentially an accountant.

Jean Halloran, director of Food Policy Initiatives for watchdog group Consumers Union eloquently lays bare current FDA problems:

"The FDA is supposed to be a watchdog for consumers, and for too long, this agency has been coming up short. The FDA has been so severely weakened by cutbacks in staffing and funding, and is so poorly equipped to deal with today's food industry, with its mass production and distribution systems and global sourcing of ingredients, that it can no longer keep food safe. The first step in overhauling the FDA should be requiring that processing plants are inspected every year...Congress must also act soon to modernize the agency and give it the additional resources and authority it desperately needs."

Yes, food processing plants do not currently get inspected on a yearly basis; Ms. Halloran points out that FDA inspects food processing only about once a decade. Peanut Butter Corporation of America, the death machine in the current outbreak, was only inspected by FDA in 2001 and again in 2006, and until January 30, 2009, FDA was unaware that the plant was even making peanut butter. Unfortunately, the most recent congressional salvo into this mess, the Food And Drug Administration Globalization Act, introduced last week by John Dingell (D-MI), will only require inspections every four years. Not enough. By far. A recent Consumers Union poll found that two-thirds of Americans want the FDA to inspect domestic and foreign food-processing facilities at least once a month. Lobbyists were already protesting the congressional move as it was being entered into the record.

Over on Marler Blog, world renowned food safety attorney Bill Marler has some terrific ideas for rapid change in food safety; he takes some pages from Barack's own Presidential Playbook to create hope for the eating masses. Read his post about Food Safety & Grass Roots Campaigns, the Team of Rivals, E technology, Terrorism, and Legal Prosecutions here.

And while you're worrying about what's next in the poison food world, drop Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack an e mail encouraging him to appoint Marler as the new head of the FSIS. Tom's email is AgSec@usda.gov.

*The video of the Barack and Lauer interview is here.

A Moment in Obama Food History That May Rapidly Explode: The Annie Liebowitz Photo of Tom Daschle and Tom Vilsack

We love this just-released Annie Leibowitz photo, taken at the White House as part of a "We The People" series profiling Barack's new cabinet, dubbed The "O" Team, which will appear in the March issue of Vanity Fair. The photo series is fantastically presumptuous in that most of the nominees had not yet been confirmed when the photos were taken--and some still aren't confirmed. And may never be, if the GOP has their way.

It turns out that Secretary of Health and Human Services nominee Tom Daschle (far left above and at left), the man who is ultimately responsible for all things food and pharma in the Barack admin, is a little less of the people and a little more of the pork. Mr. Daschle's financial disclosures have pegged him as an extraordinarily high-income earner who forgot to pay more than $100,000 in taxes and medicaid payments for a driver "donated" to him by financier and Dubious Democrat Leo Hindery. And who is this Hindery Daschle is so cozy with, anyway? Barry Orton asks the same question in a historic piece on Huffington Post:

Leo Hindery, formerly head of scandal-ridden Global Crossing, who walked away from that stockholders' disaster with $250 million? Leo Hindery, who as George Steinbrenner's head of the YES cable channel, squeezed Yankee fans out of every last dollar to watch their games? Leo Hindery, who as head of cable television giant TCI, then arguably the country's worst cable operator, managed to con AT&T into buying the company at a premium price? That Leo Hindery?

Read about the rest of Hindery's history as a "carnival barker" who "sprinkles stardust" on bad financial deals here. We wonder why Mr. Daschle was tooling around in this bro's pricey wheels...but hey, that's politics.

*Also notable in the pic: Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack (center) looks like he has the weight of the world on his shoulders--or maybe the weight of all the protests to his nom, and we love the fact that Janet Napolitano has her handbag with her. Probably all her worldy goods are in there, because as Gov. Ed Rendell snarkily noted, she has no life.

*The expression on Timothy Geithner's face (far right in group) does, however, accurately reflect his deer-in-headlights look from last week when he was being grilled by irate Senators, also for non-payment of taxes.

In pic from left: Tom Daschle, secretary-designate of health and human services; Eric Shinseki, secretary of veterans affairs; Ray LaHood, secretary of transportation; Hilda Solis, secretary-designate of labor; Tom Vilsack, secretary of agriculture; Janet Napolitano, secretary of homeland security; Timothy Geithner, secretary-designate of the Treasury.

*Group photo by Annie Leibowitz for Vanity Fair; Daschle pic from Reuters, Hindery from Hindery

Barack's White House Superbowl Party: He's Liking The Steelers....

Bam's hosting a bi-partisan Superbowl party at the White House today, and he's publicly supporting the team that gave him big support during the campaign. The Team of Rivals turns into the Team of Revelers, again.

Update: Steelers win, Barack runs a $20 million ad during airtime encouraging voters to Go Dem!

Bam's Bi-partisan Superbowl Party guestlist--he had a house full:

Senator Bob Casey (D-PA), Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA), Congressman Elijah Cummings (D-MD), Congressman Artur Davis (D-AL), Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Congressman Charlie Dent (R-PA), Congressman Mike Doyle (D-PA), Congressman Trent Franks (R-AZ), Congressman Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), Congressman Paul Hodes (D-NH), Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes-Norton (D-DC), Congressman Patrick Murphy (D-PA), Congressman Fred Upton (R-MI).

Obummer: The White House Gets Food Safety Info From AP Reporters, & The Poison Peanut Guy is Advising The USDA...About Peanuts

Barack still hasn't made any kind of public statement about the Salmonella Typhimurium peanut contamination outbreak that's caused eight deaths, more than 528 illnesses,* and the recall of thousands of products domestically and internationally. But in a White House press briefing Friday afternoon, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs directly addressed the subject:

Reporter: ...On the campaign trail last year President Obama said as the parent of two young daughters, "There are few issues more important to me than ensuring the safety of the food that our children consume." So what are you guys doing about [the salmonella contamination scandal]?

Robert Gibbs: Well, obviously we've read reports, I think on the AP wire today, about trouble at FDA last year. We've certainly read reports -- and I think the Justice Department is looking into the business practices of the company in Georgia. And I know the President hopes in the next few days to announce a pick for commissioner at FDA to address all of what you said.

So let's be clear. The White House is using the AP wire as the premier source for breaking food safety news? The peanut butter event is about to become the biggest recall in American history for sheer number of products, and the current ranking FDA guy, Dr. Robert Sundlof, isn't on speed dial? It's more than a little alarming that busy bee investigative reporters are swifter and more thorough in getting food safety documents than FDA investigators. And more than a little alarming, too, that world renowned food safety attorney Bill Marler, a private citizen, has also gotten more food safety documents about the Peanut Corporation of America than the FDA has. Unfortunately, the entire Salmonella outbreak is ominously reminiscent of how food safety issues were handled in all of the Bush administrations. And the safety trainwreck that's going on with the thousands of recalled products still sitting on store shelves is foodie deja vu, too.

The rest of Mr. Gibb's answer to the reporter's question about the peanut butter outbreak is also alarming:

Mr. Gibbs: ...The President, like I said, in the coming days will have a new commissioner at FDA and hopefully we'll be able to announce also picks at things like the Consumer Product Safety Commission and places like that to put in place a stricter regulatory structure to ensure that the type of thing that happened in this case doesn't happen again.

"Places like that?" What places, exactly, does Mr. Gibbs mean? The Food Safety and Inspection Service at USDA? The Centers For Disease Control? (Not yet appointed: A CDC commissioner, for all those wondering who is piloting that ship....) Perhaps Mr. Gibbs believes a new Secretary of Commerce could help with food safety? We're talking about commerce as much as anything else here, with the interstate and international transportation of poisonous product.... And as long as we're talking about "places like that," whatever happened to Dr. Sanjay Gupta as Surgeon General? We're certain the lovely Dr. Gupta, with all his investigative experience in foodborne disease outbreaks, would be just as helpful to the Obama Administration as those savvy AP reporters. And we know, Barack has a huge mess to clean up, and he's only been in office for two weeks, but the food safety "experts" from "places like that" who have managed to hang on to their jobs should be doing back flips to conduct an investigation into the current outbreak, and it should be profoundly different from the ones that have occurred in previous outbreaks. We're in the era of hope and change, after all.

We're also wondering what kind of understanding Mr. Gibbs really has of the bloated, Byzantine structure that is food safety monitoring in the US, with its complex and arcane tangential byroads, its lack of sanctions, its difficulty initiating--and following through on--recalls. In the Obama-Biden Rural Agenda, the closest thing to a mention of food safety is a single sentence on Country of Origin labeling. Barack's been hauntingly quiet on food safety in general, even though the two years leading up to the election were loaded with major recalls of products from meat to greens to pet foods to dairy, both domestically and internationally. In a story today on one of the current Salmonella victims, the NYT grasps on to a single sentence Barack uttered last year as a ray of hope for food safety change: “Far too often, tainted food is not recalled until too late. When I am president, it will not be business as usual when it comes to food safety. I will provide additional resources to hire more federal food inspectors.”

Unfortunately, hiring new federal inspectors--trying to block new body bags with live bodies--will not necessarily do anything. As FDA's Dr. Sundlof pointed out in a teleconference on Thursday, much of the time FDA inspectors are badly trained and inexperienced. The same is true at USDA, which just this week decided it was a bad idea to give raises to FSIS inspectors who stink at their jobs. Even though USDA is proud of their decision to implement this program, it's a little ridiculous; bad inspectors will not be penalized or fired, they just won't get a raise, in the new pay-for-performance scheme the Agency is trying out for the next five years. That'll fix things! (In pic, Dr. Sundlof demonstrates how small expectations for FDA should be)

Perhaps worse (could there be a worse?), in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, reporter Bob Keefe breaks the news that Stewart Parnell, the owner and president of Peanut Corporation of America, the "folks" responsible for the salmonella outbreak, is also on a peanut industry advisory board that helps the U.S. Department of Agriculture set quality standards for peanuts. Parnell was first appointed to the USDA’s Peanut Standards Board in July 2005, and reappointed in October for a second term that runs until June 2011, according to the USDA.

We should point out that the main duties of the Peanut Standards Board are to advise the USDA on how to grade and classify peanuts after they come out of the field — setting the sizes for jumbo versus medium peanuts, for instance, but the board does set “quality and handling standards” for domestic and imported peanuts. Clearly, the contaminated peanuts sitting in products all over America were "handled" wrong. Having a peanut company owner sit on a peanut advisory board is standard practice, because the USDA's mission is far more about commerce than it is about food safety. And that's part of what's so very wrong about USDA, at the moment, and historically.

*528 recorded illnesses can be better understood by the algorithm the CDC uses to track foodborne disease: For every verified culture positive stool sample acquired in a food borne disease outbreak, the CDC estimates that there are 35-50 more cases that go unreported or misreported. Under that calculation, that's 18,480-26,400 citizens who have been made ill by the current peanut butter contamination.

*To his credit, on July 29, 2008, during the 110th Congress, at the height of both campaign season and the Salmonella Saintpaul outbreak with tomatoes and peppers, Barack did introduce S. 3358, "The Improving Food-borne Illness Surveillance and Response Act of 2008," but the bill is now as dead as our current Salmonella victims.

*Kerry Trueman lays bare other grave food safety issues the FDA is currently facing on Huffington Post. Read FDA=Failure To Do Anything here.

*Related: The Peanut Butter Contamination Scandal is Not About Sasha Obama is here.