U.S. Department of Agriculture

Hate-Watching 'Hating Breitbart'

Fudging the truth with the late Tea Partier

How Undercover Animal Rights Activists are Winning the Ag-Gag War

US IKEAs Put Stickers on Meatballs Letting Consumers Know There's No Horse Meat!

So as we sat down to our usual so-cheap-it-might-as-well-be-free-breakfast at the IKEA in Costa Mesa, my better half notices a sticker on the poster board with a picture of their meatball plate on it. It said, quite plainly "Our meatballs are from a US supplier - sourced from US and Canada only. Onl ... More >>

Dave's Case For Proposition 37!

Proposition 37, the Mandatory Labeling of Genetically Modified Food Act, is one of the more controversial items on this Tuesday's election slate; the whole foods movement and a whole slew of chefs and food industry people support it, and the "no" side is funded by large companies like Monsanto a ... More >>

Cambodian Weed

How a small village outside Houston influences the Asian restaurants of Little Saigon, Long Beach and beyond

The Udder Type Of Dairy: Camel Milking Arrives At The OC Fair

It's a sight you never knew was missing from your life: frothy, white liquid shooting out from the udders of a camel. But as luck would have it, you can see this unique occurrence at the OC Fair.    From now until Aug. 12, camel milking demonstrations are taking place in the fair's livesto ... More >>

La Super Costilla, Foot-and-a-Half-Long Two-Pound Beef Rib, Headed To The OC Fair

We couldn't wait until next month for the Orange County Fair to kick off, so we motored down to Del Mar this week and checked out some of the fan-freaking-tastic snacks working their way up the 5. Our first stop was Biggy's Meat Market, and Dominic Palmieri was more than ready to share his wares.Pal ... More >>

[UPDATED with YOU Get Paid:] Secret Factory Farm and Slaughterhouse Video Rolls in OC

UPDATE, MAY 24, NOON.: Perhaps it was the lingering effects of my midnight pork chop/chicken gizzard/butt roast sandwich, but I really screwed the tofu dog on this item. Actually, FARM will pay you the buck to watch its undercover factory farm and slaughterhouse video.ORIGINAL POST, MAY 24, 8:12 A.M ... More >>

Esteben Colberto v. Minuteman Jaime Gilchristo on Tonight's Colbert Report?

Jim Gilchrist's Minuteman Project--think the American Revolution, only the British have been replaced by desperate brown people looking for work--makes an appearance on tonight's Comedy Central masterpiece, The Colbert Report.Can we expect an appearance by Esteban Colberto?

Vons, Albertsons, and Walmart To Stop Selling "Pink Slime" Beef

​What Louis Braindeis once said about sunlight being the best disinfectant can probably apply here. After being "pink"-listed by The Daily as sellers of "pink slime" beef, several supermarket chains have announced that they will stop offering beef that contains the filler previously known as  ... More >>

[UPDATED: USDA Caves] 'Pink Slime': Too Disgusting For McDonald's But Good Enough For Schoolkids

​UPDATE: After the Pink Slime Uproar of 2012, the USDA will give school administrators the option of not feeding the stuff to children. The agency has confirmed that due to "customer demand," it will give schools in the National School Lunch Program a choice to order products with or without "Lean ... More >>

(Government) Cheesey Orange County: OC Second in State With Number of Adults Who Are "Food Insecure"

​According to the latest California Health Interview Survey, Orange County has the second-most number of low-income adults in the state who are food insecure - defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as "limited or uncertain availability of traditionally adequate and safe foods".  Presu ... More >>

Preschooler's Homemade Lunch Replaced With Chicken Nuggets

​It's apparently not bad enough that the tomato sauce on a slice of pizza counts as a vegetable. It's not bad enough that we've now got people who grew up without eating vegetables having children who will never eat vegetables because their parents don't eat them.No, now, a North Carolina 4-year-o ... More >>

McDonald's To Stop Using "Pink Slime" in Beef

​Jamie Oliver scored a victory last week. McDonald's has announced that they will stop using ammonium hydroxide in their beef, a substance that the crusading chef once labeled as "pink slime". The chemical is added to beef scraps to kill off bacteria such as E. Coli and is approved by the USDA. Bu ... More >>

Ringling Bros. Pays $270k Fine Over Animal Care--and Disagrees with PETA About It

Photo by Keith May/OC Weekly​We explored in August the Rashomon reactions of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus to an adult elephant hitting the ground while being loaded into a boxcar in Anaheim, with PETA claiming a sick Sarah collapsed ... More >>

Poor Muppet to Debut on Sesame Street

​Sesame Street announced that a new, "poverty-stricken Muppet" will talk about hunger struggles on Sesame Street. Named Muppet Lily, her family deals with "food insecurity,"  and will part of a prime-time special with country singer Brad Paisley and his wife Kimberly Williams Paisle ... More >>

PETA Chides Ringling Bros. for Federal Inspection of Tiger Hurt in Anaheim and Ill Elephant in LA

​Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus was cited for "serious violations" of the federal Animal Welfare Act during this summer's engagements at the Honda Center in Anaheim and Staples Center in Los Angeles, an animal rights group charges.A U.S. Department of Agriculture inspection report ... More >>

Seven Rap Songs about Eating Well

Buff Love aka The Human Beat Box​Last week, the USDA introduced a new symbol for healthy eating to replace the decades-old food pyramid long considered ineffectual. The new graphic, called "MyPlate," replaces the pyramid with a plate-shaped pie chart demonstrating the importance of making fruits a ... More >>

Recipe of the Week: Old-Fashioned Pound Cake

Dave LiebermanA slice of the two-pan version with brandied cherries​Otis Spunkmeyer? Sara Lee? Entenmann's? This is what pound cake has become? Even the recipes available on the Internet contain all kinds of fillers, stretchers and leaveners. My grandmother, may she rest in peace, must be rolling ... More >>

As Food Prices Rise, is an Economic Slowdown Our Only Hope?

​Well this is a great story: mega-chains ranging from McDonald's to Nestle, Cracker Barrel to Whole Foods, are raising their prices, not because they're trying to milk you dry, but because the cost for food is going up, up, up. Yay!The United States Department of Agriculture had already forecast t ... More >>

Texas Schools Taking Pictures of Kids' Lunches to Study Their Eating Habits

DC Central Kitchen​Say cheese, grilled-cheese sandwich. A school district in San Antonio has installed a system of cameras that takes a picture of what kids are eating and not eating for lunch.

USDA Pushing for School Districts to Buy Food from Local Farmers

Photo by Das UbergeekFrom the Irvine Farmers' Market: Will Organic Pears Make it into SanTana Unified?​Jamie Oliver and Michelle Obama, take note: the United States Department of Agriculture has just announced that it's implementing a rule that is "encouraging" school districts to buy from local f ... More >>

Will Eating Sea Kelp Save Us From Radiation?

​The officials have assured us we're fine, a very safe distance from the radiation that's still emitting from the disaster-hit nuclear plant in Japan, but that hasn't stopped folks around here from taking extra precautions. People are flocking to local health food markets such as Mother's and Wh ... More >>

Food Profiling: The Biltong Guy

Biltong is better...​ Let's set the record straight: "Biltong is different from beef jerky," said Larry Burnett, known locally as The Biltong Guy and perhaps the only Orange County resident to commercially produce the South African delight. It's air-dried, as opposed to cooked in ovens, making f ... More >>

Roadtrips: Mammoth

ProfessorSalt.com​A road trip to Mammoth requires several decelerations in the speed-trap towns of Inyo County. I usually don't pay attention to the local food opportunities in Big Pine, Independence, Lone Pine and Bishop, mainly because I'm itching to speed up again and get to Mammoth Lakes. This ... More >>

USDA: Today's Egg Is Lower In Cholesterol Than A Decade Ago

Flickr User John Morgan​Earlier this week, the USDA checked on the nutritional value of eggs and found that something changed with today's chicken ovums compared to the eggs they tested in 2002. Today's eggs, with 185 mg of cholesterol, has 14% less cholesterol than back then, which had an averag ... More >>

Khapra Beetle: The Destructive Breed of Beetles Discovered in Rice Shipment at LAX

Not what you want in your rice.​Things could have become pretty buggy for producers of grain and seeds if U.S. Customs and Border Protection would have been slacking on the job. On Dec. 29 at Los Angeles International Airport, CBP intercepted a shipment of Indian rice arriving from Saudi Arab ... More >>

USDA to Require Nutrition Facts On Meat by 2012

Flickr user mayhemComing soon to meat near you...​The United States Department of Agriculture will require the Nutrition Facts label, familiar to purchasers of packaged food, on 40 common cuts of meat and poultry, beginning January 1, 2012. The rule is being phased in slowly to give processors a c ... More >>

Non-Browning Canadian Apples to Be Vetted By USDA

​ According to HuffPo, a Canadian biotech firm has applied to the US Department of Agriculture to be allowed to grow and sell genetically modified apples that resist browning when cut. The so-called "Arctic" apples have the gene that causes oxidation suppressed, using technology from an Australian ... More >>

The Government's Conspiracy to Make You Eat More Cheese

​While warning against fat consumption, the U.S. government pushes cheese sales, resulting in a sudden dairy consumption highhh for Americans.Got cheese? When Domino's Pizza was down for the count last year, an organization called Dairy Management came flying to the rescue. Since then, Domino's ... More >>

#4. Kobe Beef at Tsuruhashi Japanese BBQ

ProfessorSalt.comMeat is murder --tasty, tasty murder​ You'll have noticed we're changing who writes this feature on a day by day basis: this is how you know we're getting close to the end of our countdown. Make sure to pick up a copy of our Best of OC 2010 when it hits the newsstands October ... More >>

OC's Costcos Introduce New Food Court Item

Photo by Edwin Goei​Adios Costco turkey wraps; cómo estás Costco Carne Asada Bakes! Yes, you heard that right. The change has been propagating through Southern California Costco's food courts this summer, and now it has finally reached OC (at least the one at the District in Tustin): ... More >>

Five Things Not To Buy In A Supermarket

Flickr user roadsidepictures​If you don't care enough to be bothered with a multiple-stop shopping trip, of course go right ahead and buy whatever you want at your local Albertsons or Ralphs. Try buying the following five things from specialists just once, though, and you'll be astonished by the i ... More >>

Sweaty Mexicans Everywhere!

[¡Ask a Mexican!] How much money does Mexican sudor save American diners-and why don't Mexicans shower it off until later?

Drink of the Week: Morning After at Hurricanes

Jessica Ford Morning After​Hurricanes in Huntington Beach attracts quite possibly the most eclectic group of people in Orange County with a mix of twenty-, thirty-, even forty-somethings crowding the bar and light-up dance floor. Following the organic trend, Hurricanes carries Filip vodka ... More >>

Fast Food Safer Than School Lunches

Picture from Dead Homer Society​So by now you've heard that USA Today published an expose that revealed the meat bought by the USDA for use in school lunches wouldn't pass quality standards at Burger King or McDonald's.

Stockpile the Snickers! America Might Run Out of Sugar!

​That was the dire prediction made this week by a group of major food manufacturers such as Kraft, Hershey, Mars and General Mills, who claim that import restrictions will soon leave us bereft of the sweet stuff. Apparently, domestic sugar supplies are falling dramatically (the Agriculture Departm ... More >>

Foods to Show Country of Origin

According to various news reports and this one from ABC News, beginning this week, the USDA is requiring that all food retailers label some foods with their country of origin. The law, called COOL (Country of Origin Labeling) will mandate that the consumer is informed where all "raw beef, veal, lam ... More >>

Beefy Goodness

Apparently it's not just happy cows that come from California.The Times reported earlier today that the state Department of Public Health has released a list of Southern California food retailers linked to the Chino-based slaughterhouse responsible for the largest beef recall in United States histor ... More >>

Best Beef Recall EVER

Chino! Ew!

Hair of the Dog: Not just for hangovers or hot dogs anymore

When it comes to the Bush administration, it's not so much that rules are made to be broken, it's that rules are made so laws can be broken. The administration issues rules on "interrogations" of "detainees" that violate international law and various treaty obligations. And rules on wiretapping that ... More >>

Eight Days

Beefer Madness

Eric Schlosser talks Taco Bell, mad cow, Bush

Like,Gross!

Four Reasons to Throw Away this Issue NOW!

Dead Heat!

Expensive Tastes

Flemings provides the steak, you bring the dough

Cant Beat Their Meat

Its all about steak at Stubriks

Cant Beat Their Meat

Its all about steak at Stubriks

Cant Beat Their Meat

Its all about steak at Stubriks

'And Don't Call Us Straight!'

OUSD board fiddles while students, teachers burn