In Washington DC the USDA's Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and locavore darling Deputy Agriculture Secretary Kathleen Merrigan take to the internets today at 10 a.m. local time (yep, now) to launch the USDA's new Know Your Farmer Know Your Food Compass. more ›

Today the USDA implemented new nutritional standards for school lunches, including allowing the two tablespoons of tomato paste on frozen pizza to count as a serving of vegetables. Yep, according to our government, pizza is a vegetable. more ›

Nearly a year after chef and activist Jamie Oliver visited LA and our schools' lunchrooms none other than Rush Limbaugh weighs in on our kids and their eating habits at LAUSD. Sounding more like Jonathan Swift sans irony, Limbaugh has responded on air to this weekend's LA Times piece on the new menu fail at the country's second largest school district. more ›

In what has to be one of the most ridiculous mash-ups between our government and food since the Reagan administration proposed ketchup and relish be classified as vegetables comes word Congress is so desperate to keep pizza on school lunch menus they are declaring that two tablespoons of tomato paste as used on the pizza is also a veggie. more ›

When you order a steak at a restaurant, do you know where the beef came from, what it was fed, and under what conditions it was slaughtered? Should that even matter? If you are among those who are lured into Sizzler because they advertise a $9.99 steak dinner deal, have you ever thought: Isn't that too cheap for good meat? (It is, by the way.) more ›

A California resident has died after becoming ill from an antibiotic-resistant salmonella strain they contracted after eating contaminated ground turkey. "A California Department of Public Health spokesman said that the death was one of two cases of the illness reported in Sacramento County," reports KTLA. more ›

Another great pyramid has been lost to the sands of time. Wave goodbye to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s iconic "food pyramid" and say hello to MyPlate, a new campaign pushing nutrition via a highly simplified, Simon-esque pie chart. more ›

Grape tomatoes supplied to Tracy, CA-based company Taylor Farms Pacific, Inc. have been recalled by grower Six L's after it was discovered they may be contaminated with Salmonella, reports the Food and Drug Administration. The recalled tomatoes were used in a variety of Taylor Farms prepared/packaged salad products with sell-by dates between April 27 and May 9. more ›

Approximately 54,960 pounds of Jennie-O frozen, "raw turkey burger products" may be contaminated with Salmonella prompting a nationwide recall, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). more ›

A new set of Dietary Guidelines for Americans has been released by the US Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services including 23 key recommendations for the general population and six key recommendations for specific population groups, like pregnant women. The federal government's "evidence-based nutritional guidance" is aimed at promoting health, lessening the risk of diseases, and reducing obesity through nutrition and physical activity. more ›

The term "food desert" refers to a geographic area where residents don't have easy access to fresh, affordable food, namely supermarkets. In these areas fast and convenient food is typically more readily available and consumed, making those areas the target of scrutiny, particularly if the area is urban, for policy about food access. more ›

Two Southern California companies are the focus of two new recalls, thanks to health concerns associated with their food products. A salmonella scare is prompting the recall of El Guapo shelled walnuts, which are sourced from Visalia and distributed from Commerce-based Mojave Foods Corp., according to the Pasadena Star-News. They're recalling their 1-ounce packages of the product with a date code of 5527. more ›

Foursquare has launched a new reward for those who frequent farmers' markets. Starting tomorrow (though we know some folks have received one today) if you have "friended" CNN via your Foursquare account you can pick up their "Healthy Eater" badge. No, it's not relative to the size of your appetite; the badge stems from their "Eatocracy" campaign and pops up when you check in at a farmers' market. If you need help finding one, the USDA has a directory, though we love our local Los Angeles database. We've been checking different markets all over town to profile them for our Know Your Farmers' Market series. more ›

Of the $33 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for the U.S Department of Agriculture's wildfire protection efforts, California is only slated for $1.5 million so far and that's for Northern California. "The project work will include fuel reduction work near communities, Forest Service recreation facilities, and access routes and will also maintain facilities to reduce deferred maintenance while making crews available for fires suppression when needed." This comes as the state runs short of funds to pay for firefighters. More money is expected from the stimulus via other routes, but Governor Schwarzenegger has been pushing a yet-to-be approved 2.8 percent surcharge on property insurance. In 2008, the state experienced over 2,000 wildfires. more ›

It's not just oil and gas, it's everything. And food is especially not safe. Bill Lapp of Advanced Economic Solutions (he was previously the chief economist for ConAgra Foods Inc.) said that food prices in the U.S. will rise 9% per year through 2012, reports Reuters. more ›

In late January a video documenting the mistreatment of cattle at the Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Co. in Chino was released the Humane Society. The media (LAist included) was sensitive enough to leave this video on the rack but that didn't keep government officials from investigating and announcing the largest beef recall -- nearly 150 million pounds -- in U.S. history this weekend.

Los Angeles is working on being the second city in the state to successfully reduce pigeon and squirrel populations by using birth control rather than killing the animals. more ›

U.S.D.A. stands for the United Streets Dboyz of America, and stand for more than just the trio of rappers Young Jeezy, Slick Pulla and Blood Raw. It stands for the struggle of having nothing and being determined enough, and good enough to fight the fight, and make it on top. Their album Cold Summer dropped with Def Jam, since then they've become the self-proclaimed "Kings of Youtube" racking up incredible hit counts even when... more ›