Meal Quality of Entrées That Can Be Sold as Competitive Foods in Schools and Potential Impact of the Proposed USDA Rollbacks.

The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act strengthened competitive food standards (i.e., Smart Snacks), but an exemption allows reimbursable meal entrées that do not meet Smart Snack standards to be sold as "competitive entrées" on the same day they are served in the reimbursable meal, and the following day. Proposed rollbacks would enable these competitive entrées to continue to be sold on a third day, increasing the availability of competitive foods exempt from Smart Snacks standards. This study compared the Healthy Eating Index (HEI) scores of potential competitive entrées alone versus full reimbursable school lunches, and examined the nutritional characteristics of potential competitive entrées. Data were from a national sample of 1108 schools from the School Nutrition and Meal Cost Study. Linear regression models, accounting for school-level and state and district policy characteristics, found that HEI scores of competitive entrées were an average of 30 points lower than HEI scores of reimbursable lunches, with greater differences in small and rural schools. Less than 1% of common potential competitive entrees met Smart Snack standards, primarily due to higher sodium and saturated fat levels. The proposed rollbacks are estimated to potentially add approximately 662 mg of sodium and 3 g of saturated fat over three days (1103 mg sodium and 5 g saturated fat over a week) on average relative to Smart Snacks limits. Instead of increasing opportunities to sell competitive entrées, their sales should be further limited.

A critique of the objective function utilized in calculating the Thrifty Food Plan.

The Thrifty Food Plan (TFP) is the basis of benefit allocations within the USDA's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which administers nearly $70 billion in benefits to over 42 million people annually. To produce the allocation of food within the TFP, the USDA uses a mathematical optimization model that solves for the daily apportionment across various food groups. The model is constrained by nutritional and consumption requirements to produce an "optimal" allocation. Despite the importance of the TFP, the computational solution developed by the USDA has received insufficient attention, with only a handful of articles written on the TFP optimization model. Here, we run three alternative objective functions that are simpler than the one used by USDA. Our first alternative objective function minimizes the sum of squared errors between the consumed market basket of goods and an allocated market basket of goods, the second alternative objective function minimizes the sum of the absolute value of the difference between the consumed market basket of goods and an allocated market basket of goods, and the third alternative objective function minimizes the weighted absolute deviation of allocations and actual consumption expressed as a proportion of observed consumption. A clear theoretical advantage of either of our methods is that they eliminate the need to arbitrarily set allocated consumption to nonzero values, as is the case for the logarithmic objective function used by USDA. In an operational sense, we find that our model formulations produce an allocation that fits actual consumption better than the objective function employed by the USDA.

Global land use implications of dietary trends.

Global food security and agricultural land management represent two urgent and intimately related challenges that humans must face. We quantify the changes in the global agricultural land footprint if the world were to adhere to the dietary guidelines put forth by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), while accounting for the land use change incurred by import/export required to meet those guidelines. We analyze data at country, continental, and global levels. USDA guidelines are viewed as an improvement on the current land-intensive diet of the average American, but despite this our results show that global adherence to the guidelines would require 1 gigahectare of additional land-roughly the size of Canada-under current agricultural practice. The results also show a strong divide between Eastern and Western hemispheres, with many Western hemisphere countries showing net land sparing under a USDA guideline diet, while many Eastern hemisphere countries show net land use increase under a USDA guideline diet. We conclude that national dietary guidelines should be developed using not just health but also global land use and equity as criteria. Because global lands are a limited resource, national dietary guidelines also need to be coordinated internationally, in much the same way greenhouse gas emissions are increasingly coordinated.

School Lunch Consumption Among 3 Food Service Providers in New Orleans.

BACKGROUND: Louisiana has one of the highest rates of overweight and obese children in the United States. The Healthy School Food Collaborative (HSFC) was created to allow New Orleans's schools to select their own healthy school Food Service Provider (FSP) with requirements for higher nutritional standards than traditional options. The goal of this cross-sectional study was to examine whether HSFC membership was associated with lunch consumption rates in elementary school children. METHODS: An 8-week plate waste study examining 18,070 trays of food among fourth and fifth graders was conducted. Participants included 7 schools and the 3 FSPs (2 HSFC and 1 non-HSFC member) that serviced them. Mixed models analysis examined whether consumption rates of food items differed among FSPs. RESULTS: On average, students consumed 307 cal during lunch. Analyses showed significant differences in consumption rates of entrée, vegetables, fruit, and milk between the 3 FSPs (p < .01). The highest consumption rate was among entrées at 65%. One HSFC provider had consumption levels consistent with the non-HSFC FSP. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, students consumed less than 60% of the US Department of Agriculture recommended calories for school lunch. While overall caloric consumption was higher among the non-HSFC schools, interventions to increase lunch consumption across all schools are needed.

How do we actually put smarter snacks in schools? NOURISH (Nutrition Opportunities to Understand Reforms Involving Student Health) conversations with food-service directors.

OBJECTIVE: In autumn 2012, Massachusetts schools implemented comprehensive competitive food and beverage standards similar to the US Department of Agriculture's Smart Snacks in School standards. We explored major themes raised by food-service directors (FSD) regarding their school-district-wide implementation of the standards. DESIGN: For this qualitative study, part of a larger mixed-methods study, compliance was measured via direct observation of foods and beverages during school site visits in spring 2013 and 2014, calculated to ascertain the percentage of compliant products available to students. Semi-structured interviews with school FSD conducted in each year were analysed for major implementation themes; those raised by more than two-thirds of participating school districts were explored in relationship to compliance. SETTING: Massachusetts school districts (2013: n 26; 2014: n 21). SUBJECTS: Data collected from FSD. RESULTS: Seven major themes were raised by more than two-thirds of participating school districts (range 69-100 %): taking measures for successful transition; communicating with vendors/manufacturers; using tools to identify compliant foods and beverages; receiving support from leadership; grappling with issues not covered by the law; anticipating changes in sales of competitive foods and beverages; and anticipating changes in sales of school meals. Each theme was mentioned by the majority of more-compliant school districts (65-81 %), with themes being raised more frequently after the second year of implementation (range increase 4-14 %). CONCLUSIONS: FSD in more-compliant districts were more likely to talk about themes than those in less-compliant districts. Identified themes suggest best-practice recommendations likely useful for school districts implementing the final Smart Snacks in School standards, effective July 2016.

USDA Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program Is More Effective in Town and Rural Schools Than Those in More Populated Communities.

BACKGROUND: We attempted to determine effects of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP) on variety and frequency of fruit and vegetable intake by students in schools from different locales. METHODS: Data were derived from the 2011-2012 Indiana FFVP Student Survey completed by 4229 fourth-sixth graders. Effects were studied within 2 groups, 39 city and suburb schools, and 12 town and rural schools. Differences in students' responses over time to 2 items measuring variety and 10 items measuring fruit and vegetable intake frequency were determined with multilevel regression models. RESULTS: Town and rural students were 1.2 times more likely to eat different kinds of fruit (p = .04) and vegetables (p = .01) daily, and increased fruit (+1.0 time/day; p < .01) and vegetable intake frequency (+0.5 times/day; p = .03). City and suburb students increased fruit intake frequency (∼0.8 times/day; p < .01) but not vegetable intake frequency or daily variety (p > .05). CONCLUSIONS: FFVP improved fruit and vegetable eating behaviors in the "town and rural" group, but was only partially effective in the "city and suburb" group. Strategies to implement FFVP may need to differ depending on school locale.

Responsibilities of the USDA-Food and Nutrition Service in Nutrition Assistance Response to Natural Disasters.

USDA makes sure that nutritious USDA Foods are made available to States, Indian Tribal Organizations and Emergency Feeding Organizations to help feed survivors of natural disasters and other emergencies when needed.

Impact of the National School Lunch Program on Fruit and Vegetable Selection in Northeastern Elementary Schoolchildren, 2012-2013.

Increasing children's fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption is an important goal of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) National School Lunch Program. Since 2012, the USDA's requirement that children select FVs at lunch as part of the reimbursable school meal has been met with concern and evidence of food waste. We compared elementary schoolchildren's FV selection, consumption, and waste before (10 school visits, 498 tray observations) and after (11 school visits, 944 tray observations) implementation of this requirement using validated dietary assessment measures. More children selected FVs in higher amounts when FVs were required compared with when they were optional (0.69 cups vs. 0.89 cups, p<0.001); however, consumption decreased slightly (0.51 cups vs. 0.45 cups, p=0.01) and waste increased (0.25 cups vs. 0.39 cups, p<0.001) when FVs were required compared with when they were optional. More exposure to FVs in schools through programmatic efforts and in the home environment may help familiarize children with FV offerings and encourage consumption.

Transfer of Select Agents and Toxins: 2003-2013.

The Federal Select Agent Program, which is composed of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Division of Select Agents and Toxins and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Agricultural Select Agent Services, regulates entities that possess, use, or transfer biological select agents and toxins in the United States and must preapprove all transfers within or into the US. The requirement to preapprove transfers allows the Federal Select Agent Program to monitor and track shipments to receive alerts of theft, loss, or release during shipment, thereby protecting public health and safety. As part of the program, the Division of Select Agents and Toxins regulates biological select agents and toxins that have been identified by the US government as posing a severe threat to public health and safety. The division analyzed 4,402 transfers that occurred between March 2003 and December 2013 to identify frequently transferred biological select agents and toxins and the types of entities involved in transfers. During the study period, 1 package was lost during shipment and it was determined not to pose a threat to public health. The Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated the loss and concluded that the package was most likely damaged by the commercial carrier and discarded. Further, there were no reports of theft or release associated with biological select agents and toxins shipments. This report represents the first in-depth review of biological select agent and toxin transfers that were approved by the Division of Select Agents and Toxins.

The USDA quality grades may mislead consumers.

This study was designed to explore consumers' perceptions about and knowledge of USDA beef quality grades. Data were collected from over 1,000 consumers in online surveys in November and December 2013, and estimates were weighted to force the sample to mirror the U.S. population in terms of age, gender, education, and region of residence. When asked to rank Prime, Choice, and Select grades in terms of leanness, only 14.4% provided the correct ranking with 57.1% of respondents incorrectly indicating steaks grading Prime were the leanest. Despite perceptions that the Prime name indicated the leanest product, in a subsequent question, 55.6% of respondents thought Prime grade to be the juiciest of the 3 grades. In addition to inquiring about perceptions of the grade names, respondents also indicated perceptions of pictures of steaks. Only 14.5% of respondents correctly matched the steak pictures with their corresponding USDA quality grade name, an outcome that is statistically worse than would have occurred through pure random matching (P = 0.03). When asked to match pictures of steaks with expected prices, 54.8% of respondents incorrectly matched the picture of the Prime steak with the lowest price level. More highly educated consumers with greater preferences for steak consumption were more likely to provide correct answers. Results reveal substantial confusion over quality grading nomenclature and suggest the need for more education or for a transition toward more descriptive terminology at the retail level.

An audit of the current U.S. Department of Agriculture frame size scoring system.

Feedlot and carcass data from steers (n = 16,700) and heifers (n = 6,357) originating from 16 different states and fed in 17 feedlots located in southwest Iowa were used to evaluate the accuracy of the USDA frame score for predicting final BW of fed cattle. Frame score was recorded by USDA or state personnel for cattle either before leaving the state of origin or on arrival at the terminal feedlot. Mixed model procedures were used to investigate relationships between USDA frame score and measures of live performance and carcass traits. Other fixed effects included in the model included USDA muscle score, sex, age classification on feedlot entry (calf: ≤270 d of age, yearling: 271-365 d of age, and long yearling: >365 d of age), BCS on feedlot arrival, number of treatments for respiratory disease, hide color, and site of frame or muscle scoring; the interactions of sex × frame score and hide color × frame score were also included; fat thickness was included as a fixed effect (covariate) in the analysis of ADG, final BW, days on feed, LM area, marbling score, and quality grade. Random effects included in the model were year of feedlot arrival and feedlot in which cattle were fed. The system accurately projects the minimum target final BW for large frame steers and heifers; however, the final BW of the smallest medium frame steers and heifers exceeds the target minimum final BW by 35 and 40 kg, respectively. When frame score was assigned post facto based on actual final BW (adjusted to 1.27 cm fat thickness), it was determined that large frame was over-assigned by graders (62 vs. 35% for steers and 54 vs. 32% for heifers, actual score vs. postharvest score, respectively), medium frame was underassigned (37 vs. 51% and 46 vs. 58% for steers and heifers), and small frame was underassigned (0.7 vs. 15% and 0.6 vs. 10% for steers and heifers; K = 0.01, P < 0.01). Across sexes, of the cattle assigned to small, medium, or large frame score, 40, 59, and 43% actually had final BW (adjusted to 1.27 cm fat thickness) within the guidelines for the target final BW of each of the frame scores (P < 0.01). The present frame score system accurately reflects the modern feedlot cattle population; however, adjustments in the assignment of frame scores to reflect changes in technologies and final weights may be warranted.

Impact of the new U.S. Department of Agriculture school meal standards on food selection, consumption, and waste.

BACKGROUND: The U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently made substantial changes to the school meal standards. The media and public outcry have suggested that this has led to substantially more food waste. PURPOSE: School meal selection, consumption, and waste were assessed before and after implementation of the new school meal standards. METHODS: Plate waste data were collected in four schools in an urban, low-income school district. Logistic regression and mixed-model ANOVA were used to estimate the differences in selection and consumption of school meals before (fall 2011) and after implementation (fall 2012) of the new standards among 1030 elementary and middle school children. Analyses were conducted in 2013. RESULTS: After the new standards were implemented, fruit selection increased by 23.0% and entrée and vegetable selection remained unchanged. Additionally, post-implementation entrée consumption increased by 15.6%, vegetable consumption increased by 16.2%, and fruit consumption remained the same. Milk selection and consumption decreased owing to an unrelated milk policy change. CONCLUSIONS: Although food waste levels were substantial both pre- and post-implementation, the new guidelines have positively affected school meal selection and consumption. Despite the increased vegetable portion size requirement, consumption increased and led to significantly more cups of vegetables consumed. Significantly more students selected a fruit, whereas the overall percentage of fruit consumed remained the same, resulting in more students consuming fruits. Contrary to media reports, these results suggest that the new school meal standards have improved students' overall diet quality. Legislation to weaken the standards is not warranted.

High-impact animal health research conducted at the USDA's National Animal Disease Center.

Commissioned by President Dwight Eisenhower in 1958 and opened with a dedication ceremony in December 1961, the USDA, Agricultural Research Service (ARS), National Animal Disease Center (NADC) celebrated its 50-year anniversary in November 2011. Over these 50 years, the NADC established itself among the world's premier animal health research centers. Its historic mission has been to conduct basic and applied research on selected endemic diseases of economic importance to the U.S. livestock and poultry industries. Research from NADC has impacted control or management efforts on nearly every major animal disease in the United States since 1961. For example, diagnostic tests and vaccines developed by NADC scientists to detect and prevent hog cholera were integral in the ultimate eradication of this costly swine disease from the U.S. Most major veterinary vaccines for critical diseases such as brucellosis and leptospirosis in cattle, porcine respiratory and reproductive syndrome (PRRS), porcine parvovirus and influenza in swine had their research origins or were developed and tested at the NADC. Additional discoveries made by NADC scientists have also resulted in the development of a nutritional approach and feed additives to prevent milk fever in transition dairy cattle. More recently, NADC's archive of historic swine influenza viruses combined with an established critical mass of influenza research expertise enabled NADC researchers to lead an effective national research response to the pandemic associated with the novel 2009 H1N1 influenza virus. This review commemorates some of the key animal health contributions in NADC's first 50 years, recaps the newly completed modernization of the center into new facilities, and offers highlights of the ongoing research that will define NADC's mission going forward.

Association between state laws governing school meal nutrition content and student weight status: implications for new USDA school meal standards.

IMPORTANCE: This study assessed whether stronger school meal nutrition standards may improve student weight status. Results have immediate implications because of the ongoing implementation of new nutrition standards for the National School Lunch Program. OBJECTIVE To determine if state laws with stricter school meal nutrition standards are inversely associated with adolescent weight status, while controlling for unmeasured state-level confounders. DESIGN: Quasi-experiment. SETTING: Public schools. PARTICIPANTS: Four thousand eight hundred seventy eighth-grade students in 40 states. Students were categorized by type of school lunch they usually obtained (free/reduced price, regular price, or none). INTERVENTIONS State laws governing school meal nutrition standards. States with standards that exceeded US Department of Agriculture (USDA) school meal standards were compared with states that did not exceed USDA standards. The parameter of interest was the interaction between state laws and student lunch participant status, ie, whether disparities in weight status between school lunch participants and nonparticipants were smaller in states with stricter standards. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Body mass index percentile and obesity status. RESULTS: In states that exceeded USDA standards, the difference in obesity prevalence between students who obtained free/reduced-price lunches and students who did not obtain school lunches was 12.3 percentage points smaller (95% CI, -21.5 to -3.0) compared with states that did not exceed USDA standards. Likewise, differences in mean body mass index percentile between those student populations were 11 units smaller in states that exceeded USDA standards (95% CI, -17.7 to -4.3). There was little evidence that students compensated for school meal laws by purchasing more sweets, salty snacks, or sugar-sweetened beverages from other school venues (eg, vending machines) or other sources (eg, fast food). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Stringent school meal standards that reflect the latest nutrition science may improve weight status among school lunch participants, particularly those eligible for free/reduced-price lunches.

Effectiveness of USDA instrument-based marbling measurements for categorizing beef carcasses according to differences in longissimus muscle sensory attributes.

This study quantified relationships between USDA instrument marbling measurements and LM sensory attributes (tenderness, flavor, juiciness), and shear force. Heifer (n = 390) and steer (n = 328) carcasses (all A-maturity) were selected at 4 beef processing plants in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, and Texas to represent 7 marbling degrees: traces (TR), slight (SL), small (SM), modest (MT), moderate (MD), slightly abundant (SA), and moderately abundant (MA). Classification into marbling groups was based on marbling scores determined using USDA-approved VBG 2000 grading systems. Strip loin steaks were obtained from both sides of each carcass and aged for 14 d. One steak was used to obtain Warner-Bratzler shear force (WBSF) and slice shear force (SSF) measurements. The other steak was evaluated by a trained sensory panel for juiciness, tenderness, intensity of flavors characterized as meaty/brothy, buttery/beef fat, bloody/serumy, livery/organy, and grassy; and overall sensory experience (negative or positive). Instrument marbling score explained 45%, 40%, 32%, 71%, and 61% of the observed variation in panel ratings for juiciness, tenderness, meaty/brothy flavor intensity, buttery/beef fat flavor intensity, and overall sensory experience, respectively. Increased degree of marbling resulted in steaks having greater (P < 0.001) juiciness (MA > SA > MD > MT > SM > SL = TR), meaty/brothy flavor (MA = SA > MD = MT > SM > SL > TR), and buttery/beef fat flavor (MA > SA > MD > MT > SM > SL > TR). Steak tenderness also increased (P < 0.001) as marbling degree increased; however, tenderness differences among marbling degrees differed for steers (MA = SA > MD = MT > SM > SL = TR) and heifers (MA = SA > MD > MT > SM > SL > TR). Steaks produced by steers had lower (P < 0.05) WBSF and SSF values, and were rated as more tender by sensory panelists than steaks produced by heifers, but the effect of sex on panel tenderness was significant only among steaks with TR marbling. Results of this study showed that instrument-based classification of beef carcasses, according to differences in marbling, effectively identified subsequent differences in strip loin steak sensory performance. Nearly all (98 to 99%) steaks with MA or SA marbling, and most (between 80% and 90%) steaks with MD and MT marbling, received positive ratings for overall sensory experience. In comparison, 62% of SM steaks, 29% of SL steaks, and 15% of TR steaks received positive sensory experience ratings.

Hand safety for specialty crop production workers: a pilot study investigating frequencies of minor open-wound hand injuries and presence of pathogenic bacteria.

The purpose of this study was to quantify the presence of minor open-wound hand injuries in addition to Salmonella, Staphylococcus aureus, coliforms, and Escherichia coli on the hands of farm workers who hand-harvest fruit crops in Utah. Data collection was conducted on four farms without USDA Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) certification and on two farms with GAP certification. This study identified essential safety issues that need to be addressed for improving the effectiveness of safety training for migrant farm workers. Farms that have a food safety audit program in place are less likely to have farm workers exposed to pathogenic bacteria and open-wound injuries to their hands. High frequency of S. aureus may indicate a potentially higher risk for wound infection within this worker population. This could lead to infections that are resistant to the antibiotics commonly used to treat ordinary staph infections, resulting in greater work loss time and medical expenses for these workers. Higher frequencies of bacterial presence on workers' hands on non-certified farms indicate a need to identify essential practices to improve worker hygiene habits and on-farm management practices to promote healthy hygiene. Open-wound injuries to migrant farm workers during hand-harvesting could create additional health problems with the possibility of infection and the spread of diseases. Continued research is needed to understand workers' acceptance of these injuries and barriers to personal protection.

History of regulatory requirements for poultry biologics in the United States, 1970s to 1990s.

By the end of the 1960s, The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) had established the basic purity and safety standards for poultry biologics in the United States and had licensed products to address many of the major poultry diseases of concern at that time. The emergence of new diseases, advances in scientific technology, and changes in poultry husbandry practices that occurred in the 1970s to the 1990s required the development of many new and amended regulatory requirements to keep abreast of the changing needs of the poultry industry. Veterinary Services often approved the use of special or conditional licensing procedures to shorten the time to license products needed to address emerging diseases. Infectious bronchitis, bursal disease, fowl cholera, duck virus enteritis, avian influenza, and other vaccines were rapidly licensed to address emerging disease problems using this procedure. Changes in labeling and packaging requirements were made to address changing vaccination practices. Veterinary Services permitted diluents to be shipped separate from product, first for Marek's disease vaccine and later for vaccines recommended for administration by automatic vaccinating machines. The maximum number of doses permitted to be in one container and package were also amended to address the increased size of poultry flocks. Veterinary Services also approved the use of split manufacturing procedures that permitted two or more licensed manufacturers to work together in the production of a product. This innovative use of licensing products for further manufacture allowed the industry to use production facilities more efficiently and provided a wider variety of combination products. In 1985, Congress passed an amendment to the Virus-Serum-Toxin Act that gave USDA the authority to regulate all veterinary biological products shipped in or from the United States. This amendment brought intrastate biologics manufacturers under federal jurisdiction and ensured all biological products shipped in or from the United States met the same standards of purity, safety, potency, and efficacy. The development of new recombinant DNA (r-DNA) techniques for the production of vaccines required USDA to establish new procedures and rules for the review of these products prior to their release into the environment and eventual licensure. Compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act required the preparation of environmental risk assessments and public participation in the field testing and licensing of live r-DNA products. This article addresses some of the history of these and other changes in regulatory requirements for poultry products that took place in the 1970s to the 1990s, but space does not permit us to address all of the changes that have occurred. We have presented some of what we consider the most notable events in this process and leave it up to future historians to address events that may not have been included.