By the end of this month, maintenance technicians at thousands of government buildings in Washington, DC and in every state will have removed and replaced office and door identification plaques and hung pictures of the new Biden leadership team on the walls of government offices, from the White House down to your local neighborhood post office. That is because along with the new Biden administration comes the appointments of well more than 1,000 new policy makers to manage, direct and generally oversee every facet of our federal government. As large as the bureaucracy is, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) remains “ground zero” for our food industry.
Out With The Old
Whether you were a supporter of the outgoing Trump administration or not, there were key achievements at USDA. Department Secretary Sonny Perdue had many accomplishments to tout under his tenure. Despite the coronavirus, historic wildfires and weather damage, USDA accomplishments were numerous for farmers, ranchers, foresters, producers and the American people.
The most recent accomplishments, particularly this past year, under Secretary Perdue include the purchase of more than $8.6 billion in food for delivery to food banks and other programs to help feed the hungry and those impacted by the pandemic. The agency also purchased tons of food including fresh fruits and vegetables, dairy products and meat products from American producers of all sizes. Then, for the first time ever, these food purchases were distributed via emergency food boxes to more than 125 million Americans in need, ensuring that children and low-income individuals had access to nutritious food.
Progress was also made on the trade front, particularly as the U.S. and China reached new agreements in the areas of technology and agriculture. These agreements led to a record pace of Chinese purchases in many sectors that helped to boost agricultural commodity prices. There were also new agreements within the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement replacing the decades-old North America Free Trade Agreement, thus expanding market access for U.S. farmers to sell their products to our closest neighbors. Other achievements included: creating new technology to help farmers as well as food manufacturers and retailers get quicker responses to their questions and concerns related to their operations; expanding rural broadband; and creating an aggressive agriculture agenda to stimulate agricultural production while cutting the environmental footprint such as reducing food loss and waste within the food industry. Well done, Secretary Perdue!
In With The New
At press time, it appears as if former USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack will be back in his old job within the Biden administration. Already off to a fast start even before getting Senate confirmation, Vilsack has announced the major priorities for his first year which include additional and continued relief for hungry families during the pandemic. His next top priority will be climate change as the incoming president has said that he wants U.S. agriculture to be the first to reach net-zero emissions. The president-elect and Vilsack reiterated last month that they support paying farmers for climate-friendly practices like capturing carbon in their fields and forests.
Because many minority organizations were not particularly pleased with the announcement that Vilsack may be returning to USDA, he has countered by announcing that he promises to “continue the important work of rooting out inequities and systemic racism in the systems we govern and the programs we lead” within USDA. Vilsack will be helped in this endeavor by his long-time friend and soon-to-be House Agriculture Chairman David Scott (D-GA). Scott will be the first Black lawmaker to hold the post and said his top priority is to bring justice to farmers of color. Most farm organizations and commodity groups applauded the Vilsack announcement.
Food safety should also be a top priority for Vilsack, so anticipate more rules and regulations coming down the pike. He oversaw numerous food safety initiatives when he was secretary under the Obama administration for eight years. If he gets confirmed by the U.S. Senate, which should be a slam dunk, expect to see his former record enhanced by the creation of upgraded technology and internal tracking and reporting systems for food production from farm to fork, improved collaborations between agencies within USDA and elsewhere in the federal bureaucracy, and new efforts to help reduce foodborne illnesses.
Scott Appointment
Georgia Congressman David Scott, as mentioned above, was approved by the Democratic caucus to serve as the first Black chair of the House agriculture committee. This powerful committee is charged with legislative oversight relating to the agriculture industry, forestry, nutrition and rural development. Scott has served as a member of Congress and the House agriculture committee since 2003. He has chaired several agriculture subcommittees and played a major role in the enactment of the last three farm bills. Scott will replace outgoing committee Chairman Collin Peterson of Minnesota who was defeated in the November elections. Congressman Scott’s appointment was cheered by many industry groups including the National Milk Producers Federation, the International Dairy Food Association, the National Corn Growers Association, and others. Scott and Vilsack should make a great team.
HHS Releases Dietary Guidelines For Americans
If you are looking to make some resolutions for 2021 and you are health conscious, why not consider adopting parts of the new dietary guidelines that were recently released by the Health and Human Services Department (HHS)? The guidelines, which provide science-based recommendations designed to foster healthy dietary patterns for Americans of all ages, are changed every five years. The guidelines also shape federal, state and local health-related initiatives and greatly influence what food companies produce.
According to Meatingplace, the new dietary guidelines however, dodged one of the more controversial recommendations made by the advisory committee that wrote the initial draft of the guidelines: specific limits on alcohol and sugar. It instead includes the advisory committee’s “emphasis on limiting these dietary components, but did not include changes to quantitative recommendations,” the HHS stated. The guidelines reiterated that Americans typically consume too many saturated fats, sodium and added sugars, while not eating enough fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Did you know that 42 percent of U.S. adults ages 20 and older are considered obese?
Therefore, if you are in the 42 percentile and in the mood for a new New Year’s resolution, here are the four overarching guidelines:
- Follow a healthy dietary pattern (no cheating with fatty foods and salty snacks).
- Enjoy nutrient-dense food and beverage choices (read the damn labels).
- Focus on the five food groups: veggies, fruits, grains, dairy and fortified soy alternatives and proteins.
- Limit foods and beverages high in added sugars, saturated fat, and sodium, and limit alcoholic beverages.
Cell -Grown Chicken Coming Soon?
According to a report in Food Safety News (and covered by my fellow columnist Karen Fernandez in Aisle Chatter) last month, Eat Just Inc., a privately held San Francisco firm known for plant-based alternatives to egg products, gained regulatory approval in Singapore to produce and sell lab-grown chicken meat. The company is also in discussions with U.S. regulators on a possible launch here in the states.
The report in Food Safety News provided an interesting tutorial. So, for your educational purposes, following is what you need to know about this new technology: in contrast to plant-based meat, which mimics the organoleptic characteristics of real meat but uses proteins from plants, cell-based meat is meat tissue produced without animal slaughter. Also known as cultivated meat or cell cultured meat, cell-based meat is intended to replicate to the organoleptic, nutritional, and compositional characteristics of meat tissue harvested from food-producing animals. Got all that? If not, go back and re-read.
In 2020, you may recall that I previously mentioned in this column that USDA and the FDA developed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) regarding these cell-grown products. The MOU outlined how the U.S. will regulate cell-based meat, poultry, and seafood products and clarified how existing law will apply. So, the groundwork is being set in place for U.S. rollout of this new technology.
Agricultural innovation is a bipartisan effort, and we at Policy Solutions expect the Biden administration to continue to work on cell-based products especially since it means more climate-smart agriculture. It is coming to market one way or another.
Abusive SNAP Retailers
While issues on Capitol Hill specifically impacting the food industry have been sparse during the past few months because of the elections and the pandemic, be aware that the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) is taking steps to remove retailers from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for engaging in fraudulent activity. This all comes about as a result of a new cooperative agreement with USDA’s office of the inspector general (OIG). Our advice is to make sure everyone in your organization who administers SNAP issues and policy knows the rules thoroughly. The report that I read states that FNS will aggressively pursue those who abuse the SNAP program, and this means criminal prosecution of store owners and/or employees.
A happy and certainly healthy New Year to all my readers. I enjoy hearing from you and appreciate your questions and comments.
Barry Scher is associated with the public policy firm of Policy Solutions LLC and may be reached at [email protected].