food and nutrition

Last Friday, with the sun shining down and the DJ playing “Givin’ Up Food for Funk”, national office USDA employees celebrated the end of a successful Feds Feed Families campaign at the USDA Summer Bash.  Given the level of fun that was had, I think it’s safe to say that it was the first annual USDA Summer Bash.

Whether shoppers stroll through a grocery store or visit a local farmer’s market, they often wonder where meat or produce comes from.

The Country of Origin Labeling program, or COOL, began as an amendment by Congress to the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 in the 2002 and 2008 Farm Bill. However, COOL did not officially take effect until March 2009. This regulation requires retailers, such as grocery stores, supermarkets, and club stores, to provide accurate country of origin information on all covered commodities, including muscle cuts and ground beef (including veal); pork, lamb, goat, and chicken; wild and farm-raised fish and shellfish; fruits and vegetables; peanut, pecans, and macadamia nuts; and ginseng.

A stop during my recent visit to Ohio was the historic North Market located in downtown Columbus.

The North Market successfully addresses the needs of small and local businesses for retail space, and provides local, healthy and sustainably grown and processed food for consumers.  Over one million customers annually have the opportunity to sample and purchase a tremendous array of local products including fruits and vegetables, meats, baked goods, ethnic foods, seafood, wines, ice cream and many other products.

At Universidad Interamericana in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the Inter Metro Summer Recreation Program is a vital part of the social, physical and nutritional well-being of area children.  For six years the university has sponsored the recreation and open food service site for kids  ranging in age from 5 to 16 years old.

Recent news articles have reported that a healthy diet is expensive if one were to consume the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables.  As the senior economist with the USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion (CNPP) with over 20 years of experience in the area of food economics developing food plans and market baskets, I agree.  Depending on the food choices, a healthy diet can be relatively expensive.

However, there is a compelling fact that these news reports fail to highlight -- a healthy diet can be relatively inexpensive.  Now some readers of this blog may think that this is another case of economic double talk or spin, but healthy foods come in a variety of forms and a range of prices that likely fit just about anyone’s budget.

Right now, parents are making sure their children are ready to head back to school after the summer.  Their checklist to get ready might include new shoes or a new backpack - paper, pens and other supplies.

At USDA, we are working to add another item to the list: nutritious meals and healthy lifestyles for all of America’s children.

If we want to build a strong economy and win the future, then we also need to win the race to educate our kids.  And that means making sure that the 32 million kids who eat school lunches every day are fueled by the healthiest, most nutritious food we can provide.

Despite having some of the highest unemployment and home foreclosure rates in New Jersey, the city of Perth Amboy refuses to let kids go hungry over the summer.  In 2011 the city extended the Summer Food Service Program by two weeks and added 20 new feeding sites.  Through an aggressive marketing effort using local newspapers, businesses, cable TV access programming and schools to advertise site locations and activities, Perth Amboy has made providing meals to kids when school’s out a top priority.

The “Food, Fun and Sun!” Contest is in full swing and submissions are rolling in to beat the submission deadline of August 20.  The USDA Food and Nutrition Service launched the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) Story and Photo contest as a way to collect promising practices of the SFSP around the four target categories of the contest:

Here at USDA, we work every day to help American farmers. It is important to us to hear how we are doing and how we can improve, and that is why I was happy to have the chance to speak with a group of local producers in Louisiana recently.

These Rural Roundtable sessions are being held across the country by senior Administration officials on behalf of the White House Rural Council to explore ways federal, state and local officials can work together to improve economic conditions and create jobs, and to increase awareness of USDA programs and services.

When the USDA first made the dataset from the USDA National Farmers Market Directory available to web and application designers last year, we weren’t sure what was going to happen.  We just knew local food lovers, farmers market lovers, and data lovers were waiting for it.

The results have been amazing. Websites and apps that not only benefit their local communities, but help farmers markets have popped up across the nation.