USDA study shows cooking kills bird flu virus in meat
In tests conducted by USDA scientists, the H5N1 bird flu virus did not survive in hamburgers cooked to internal temperatures of 145 and 160 degrees Fahrenheit, said the Agriculture Department on Thursday. “These results validate that recommended cooking temperatures are sufficient to kill H5N1 in meat,” it said.
GOP farm bill puts SNAP savings into trade and horticulture programs
House Agriculture Committee chair Glenn Thompson would funnel $10 billion in food stamp cuts into an expansion of trade promotion and horticulture programs as part of the new farm bill, said Republican staff workers on Thursday. One of them called opponents of SNAP cuts “hunger weirdos” who “use poor people as props.”
TODAY’S QUICK HITS
Cultivated chicken sales: A high-end Singapore meat shop has begun retail sales — the first ever for cultivated meat — of Good Meat 3, a blend of 3 percent cultivated chicken and plant proteins, with a 4.25-ounce package priced at the equivalent of $5.35. (Good Meat)
Deere revenue down: Deere and Co., the world’s largest maker of farm equipment, said worldwide revenues fell 12 percent during the second quarter of the year, which chief executive John May attributed to “continued changes across the global agricultural sector.” (Deere)
Soybean changes: Farmers are planting nearly 25 percent fewer soybean seeds per acre than they did in 1997, while average row width has increased modestly, to almost 20 inches, and planting in conventional rows, rather than drilling or broadcasting seed, has become the standard practice. (USDA)
Short shrift for Black farmers: Farm bill proposals that increase federal support for the major row crops shortchange Black farmers and other small growers who produce none or only small amounts of the subsidized crops and do not have a USDA backstop, said an environmental group. (EWG)
