History of the US Department of Agriculture USDA

We get a general idea of the scope of services covered by the USDA’s current mission and vision statements 1 .

Mission : We provide leadership on food, agriculture, natural resources,and related issues based on sound policy, the best availablescience, and efficient management.
Vision : We want to be recognized as a dynamic organization that is ableto efficiently provide the integrated program delivery needed tolead a rapidly evolving food and agriculture system.
Today the USDA is responsible for a broad range of servicesrelating to agriculture and rural interests. USDA agencies include :
- Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS)
- Agricultural Research Service (ARS)
- Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)
- Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion (CNPP)
- Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service(CSREES)
- Economic Research Service (ERS)
- Farm Service Agency (FSA)
- Food and Nutrition Service (FNS)
- Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS)
- Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS)
- Forest Service (FS)
- Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA)
- National Agricultural Library (NAL)
- National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS)
- Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)
- Risk Management Agency (RMA)
- Rural Development (RD)
USDA Offices are also described on their website near the bottom of the page.USDA Rural Services also offers grants for research and areas ofinterest that support the mission and vision of USDA.
One important department listed above, the FSIS2 , focuses on food inspection services. Its mission states:
“The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is the publichealth agency in the U.S. Department of Agriculture responsible forensuring that the nation’s commercial supply of meat,poultry, and egg products is safe, wholesome, and correctly labeledand packaged.”

http://riley.nal.usda.gov/nal_display/index.php?info_center=8&tax_level=1&tax_subject=3
Image3USDA
Abraham Lincoln
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) was established in 1862 by President Abraham Lincoln. While there was no formal agencyfrom which the USDA was an outgrowth, in 1820 and 1825 the U.SHouse of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, respectively,established Agriculture Committees 3 .
During the latter half of the 1800s the railroads expanded rapidly across the US and its territories. As technologyprogressed, refrigerated cars and electricity made it possible forthe meat packing industry to become a year-round business 4 .
By 1865 imported animals had long been identified to be a source ofdiseased livestock, prompting the USDA Secretary to pressureCongress to pass an act providing quarantine of imported animals.Although the act was passed, Congress gave authority to quarantineto the Treasure Department, who did little to provide the intendedprotection. Diseased animals continued to be brought into thecountry.
Consequently, as states attempted to enforce their own regulations,inconsistencies between states’ requirements createdadditional problems. Not only were they enforced erratically, but,states resented each other’s quarantines. This promptedveterinarians and ranchers to push for a nationally regulatedsolution. In 1886 the Supreme Court ruled in the Wabash case that only the federal government could regulate interstatecommerce. In 1887, Congress passed the Interstate Commerce Act 5 .
In 1884 the President signed an act that established the Bureau ofAnimal Industry (BAI) within the USDA to prevent diseased animalsfrom being used in food and food products. The BAI was thepredecessor to the FSIS . By August the US Treasury department transferred their quarantinestations to the BAI. In time, foreign markets began placingrestrictions on U.S. food exports, prompting the 1890 FoodInspection Act.
Upton Sinclair’s 1905 book, The Jungle described the conditions in Chicago’s meatpacking houseswith such gruesome detail that he gained widespread public supportin urging President Theodore Roosevelt to place governmentinspectors on the premises. Details covered horrible workingconditions and brutal treatment of workers and the filthyconditions affecting both workers and meat products destined forAmerican consumers. In 1906 the Food and Drug Act and the MeatInspection Act were passed.
At this point the USDA oversaw the Bureau of Chemistry and the BAI . Enforcement of the Food and Drugs Act fell to the Bureau of Chemistry (the predecessor of the Foodand Drug Administration, or FDA ,) and the Meat Inspection Act to the BAI. By 1912 the BAI alsobegan inspecting eggs intended for use by the Navy. But, no oneinspected eggs for use by the general public, or other branches ofthe military or other federal agencies at that time. While inunderwent many transformations, the, now renamed, Food and DrugAdministration FDA ) was transferred in 1940 to the predecessor of the Department ofHealth, Education and Welfare (HEW), which eventually was renamedthe Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS.)
After World War II, with the rapidly developing U.S. Highway systemand shift in transportation to refrigerated trucks, it became moreeconomical to move packing houses found to rural areas. In the1950s the USDA was reorganized under President Dwight Eisenhower,who eliminated the BAI and other divisions, and created theAgriculture Research Service (ARS) to assume theirresponsibilities. The Poultry Products Inspection Act was passedanswering the need for inspections within rapidly growing poultryproduction industry.
During the 1950s and 1960s the focus on consumer protection andsafety shifted from contaminated meat and food products tomislabeling and adulteration from chemical additives. At that time,food inspections consisted primarily of looking for visiblecontamination. Most of the newer concerns were the results ofprogress-new kinds of products, complex processing methods,increased volume. Many of the concerns focused on pesticides,residues of drugs given to animals, and preservatives. The 1958Food Additive Amendment was passed to address safety concerningthese issues.
As the complexity of production and marketing continued to increaseduring the 1960s, more laws were passed along with reorganizationof the departments under the USDA. The Wholesome Meat Act, 1967,required the states to assume meat inspection responsibilities,previously delegated to the federal government under the FederalMeat Inspection Act. By 1968 the poultry and meat inspectionprograms had merged and were now under the USDA’s Agricultureand Research Service.
After a few more transformations, by 1972 the Animal and PlantHealth Inspection Service had been created and revised for thepurpose of assuming the regulatory responsibilities of theAgriculture and Research Service. These responsibilities were againtransferred, in 1977 to the newly created Food Safety and QualityService, which, in turn, became the Food Safety and InspectionService (FSIS) in 1981.
In 1993, almost 35 years after science proved we had the technologysend astronauts to the moon, an outbreak of E.coli killed four people and made another 400 sick, exposing the archaicinspection methods used to ensure safety in meat products. Sciencewasn’t being applied evenly across all government agencies.
Sadly, Americans, relying on inspection regulations and ourgovernment’s assurance that they will keep our food supplysafe, have been trusting individual agent’s ability (andcommitment) to see, feel or smell toxic contaminants in our foods,when accurate and inexpensive testing methods had been availablefor many years. It takes only seconds to streak a Petri dish, justfour to 48 hours to see growth on those dishes, and only a coupleminutes to identify that growth. Anyone who has taken amicrobiology class can do this.
It took that horrible incident to get the FSIS to use morescientific methods to inspect foods. Although it took until July1996, the FSIS finally issued the Pathogen Reduction/HazardAnalysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) Systems-a rule intendedto reduce microbial pathogens in raw products. This rule would holdindustry accountable for producing safe food, would hold thegovernment responsible for establishing safe food standards andmaintaining oversight and enforcement of these standards. It stilltook until January 1997 to begin implementation of this rule anduntil January 2000 to complete that implementation. But, it didreduce the number of bacterial food-borne illnesses in 6,500federally-inspected, and 2,550 state-inspected meat and poultryslaughter and packing plants 3 .
In the first months of 2004 the U.S. underwent the first of severalscares. Mad Cow Disease, officially bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), led to a long and intense investigation the ultimately ledto the destruction of 255 animals suspected of being at-risk, butultimately tested negative for BSE. While 17 deaths were attributedto and outbreak of Mad Cow disease from attendees at a New Jerseyrace track, reporters “overlooked” the fact that thesedeaths took place over a nine-year period, making them a one in amillion occurrence. Scientific lab data later showed that none ofthese cases were related either to BSE or to one another.Never-the-less, the Mad Cow Disease Scare didn’t die downuntil late in the first half of 2006 (6).
Barely had the flurry about Mad Cow Disease settled down when, in2005 the Bird Flu 7 arrived in time to continue the fear. People had begun to believethat they could contract Bird Flu by eating chicken 8 . The usual common knowledge, that fully cooking poultry at theproper temperatures would destroy the virus, seemed to have flownthe coop.
On a more amusing note, on June 15, 2005 the Chicago Tribuneprinted an article informing us that the USDA had officiallydeclared French fries to be “fresh produce.” It also added batter-coated and frozen fries to this list of“fresh produce 9 .”
Despite over 145 years of efforts to prevent unsafe foods fromreaching consumers, we’ve seen a number of recalls recentlyfor various violations. Tyson Foods , in December 2007, had its FSIS approval to use the phrase“Raised without antibiotics that impact human antibioticresistance” on its labels rescinded when FSIS learned thatTyson routinely used the antibiotic Gentamicin preventatively intheir chicks 10 .
In February 2008, there was national uproar when Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Co. , from Chino, California recalled over 143,300,000 pounds of rawand frozen meat products. The FSIS determined that the company“did not consistently contact the FSIS public healthveterinarian in situations in which cattle became non-ambulatoryafter passing ante-mortem inspection, which is not compliant withFSIS regulations.” The FSIS rated it as a Class II Recall,which has a low health risk. This case gained widespread notorietyafter video showing the abuse of the cattle was made public on YouTube 11 .
These are only two of numerous reports of recalls and violations of regulations. Recently there was a warning of salmonella contamination of raw tomatoes12 , so the need for inspections continues. What is sad is that theneed continues, whether it’s from accidental contamination,or from workers who care nothing about the animals or consumersaffected, or corporations who merely want to eek every dollar fromtheir operations.
As for the current salmonella scare reporting outbreaks in 16 states, Dr. Isadore Rosenfeld, onFOX News, 6/8/08 says, “This week it’s tomatoes, nextweek it’ll be beef.” He says salmonella 13 , 14 is a common contaminant, and, when choosing tomatoes, to avoidthose with breaks in the skin, bruised spots, and wash themthoroughly. Salmonella usually doesn’t need to be treated,and will usually resolve in 2-3 days by itself. If it needs to betreated, get it treated. As of June 8, 2008, the FDA reports 143 cases of Salmonellosis , with 23 hospitalizations, since April, associated with certaintypes of tomatoes 12 . According to the FDA, “…preliminary data suggest thatraw red plum, raw red Roma, or raw round red tomatoes are thecause. 14 ” The FDA considers cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, tomatoessold with the vine still attached, and home grown tomatoes to besafe. The FDA also lists several states14 whose tomatoes are NOTassociated with the Salmonella outbreak, and considers all tomatoesgrown in these states safe to eat.
For a downloadable PDF file that gives a Condensed History ofAmerican Agriculture, 1776-1999 15 , go to: http://www.usda.gov/news/pubs/99arp/timeline.pdf
Fight Bac is a site for Partnership for Food Safety Education, with tips forhandling food, activities for kids, research and other goodinformation. FoodSafety.gov offers a broad range of information such as safety alerts,food-borne pathogens, a link to the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report , links to photos and videos, and a link to reporting illnesses and filing complaints .
For access to the U.S. Code of Federal Regulation (CFR) go to http://www.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/cfrassemble.cgi?title=200607
To review the USDA Laws and Regulations go to http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/!ut/p/_s.7_0_A/7_0_1OB?navtype=SU&navid=LAWS_REGS
To contact the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) or to file acomplaint, either go to
http://www.usrecallnews.com/2008/03/adverse-event-reporting-and-contact-information.html
or write them at:
U.S. Department of Agriculture
1400 Independence Ave., S.W.
Washington, DC 20250
Other USDA contact sites are:
http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/!ut/p/_s.7_0_A/7_0_1OB?navid=CONTACT_US
http://www.usda.gov
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Contact_US/index.asp
References:
1 USDA Mission and Vision statements: http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/!ut/p/_s.7_0_A/7_0_1OB?parentnav=ABOUT_USDA&navid=MISSION_STATEMENT&navtype=RT
2 FSIS: http://www.fsis.usda.gov/About_FSIS/index.asp
3 USDA History: http://www.fsis.usda.gov/About_FSIS/Agency_History/index.asp
4 Refrigeration and commerce: http://www.fsis.usda.gov/About_FSIS/Agency_History/index.asp
5 Wabash case and Interstate Commerce Act: http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5746/
6 Mad Cow Disease: http://www.consumerfreedom.com/news_detail.cfm/headline/2500
7 Bird Flu: http://www.consumerfreedom.com/pressRelease_detail.cfm/release/128
8 Contracting Bird Flu: http://www.consumerfreedom.com/pressRelease_detail.cfm/release/2913
9 French Fries Declared Fresh Veggies: http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-7586656_ITM
10 Tyson Foods: http://www.fsis.usda.gov/News_&_Events/NR_060308_01/index.asp
11 Hallmark/Westland Video: http://youtube.com/watch?v=kaM7Hpu47FY&feature=related
12 Raw Tomatoes and Salmonella Contaminations: http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/tomatoes.html
13 Salmonella Wikipedia Description: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salmonella
14 Salmonella USDA Description: http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/tomatoes.html
15 Condensed History of American Agriculture, 1776-1999: http://www.usda.gov/news/pubs/99arp/timeline.pdf
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