As we chatted about Thai agricultural commodities at Tuesday night’s birthday party for King Bhumibol Adulyadej at the Capital Hilton, Rapibhat Chandarasrivongs, agriculture minister in the Royal Thai Embassy’s Office of Agricultural Affairs, graciously passed me a large coconut with a straw in it. I wanted to take notes, but the milk inside was so [...]
On Sunday, Nov. 7, The New York Times published a story that spelled out the U.S. Department of Agriculture's hypocritical role in America's dietary life: The agency that pushes for healthier diets, the paper pointed out, has simultaneously created and partially funded a marketing group designed to add tons more cheese into our lives via [...]
All together now: It's pronounced "A-beets." This is a random category, yes, and I'm not sure what it says other than that some putz kept this page open on his browser for hours, presumably while doing other things, like typing out TPS reports or surfing for porn. But, hey, it's amusing to speculate who kept [...]
Michael Landrum, the man who put the meat into the Ray's mini-empire, has never been shy about telling the world about the superiority of his beef. The New York Times' investigation of the commercial ground-beef industry gave him another chance to do more of the same. Landrum responded to three of the four questions posed [...]
Following the New York Times' investigation of the ground-beef industry, and the failed safety systems designed to protect the public from its worst practices, Y&H contacted a number of prominent burger operators to get their take on the situation. It was a chance for them to refute any information, argue that the safety of gourmet [...]
According to this CNN Money report from last year, Cargill, the manufacturer of the ground beef that partially paralyzed the dance instructor profiled in Sunday's New York Times, is the second largest privately held company in the country. Fortune magazine estimates that Cargill's 2007 revenues were $88 billion. The company's third quarter net earnings in 2008 [...]
The New York Times published a devastating piece on Sunday, detailing not only how a nasty strain of E. coli ruined the life of a young dance instructor but also how the tainted meat came to be in the first place. The short answer: because the inspection and safety system favors the beef industry, with [...]
Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack explains the USDA's local farm program. UPDATE, 5:52 p.m. Weds.: The Los Angeles Times has more details on the market here. As part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's new Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food campaign, the White House will launch a farmers market tomorrow in the 800 block of [...]
