The USDA: Friend or Foe

We have been lead to believe that the USDA is designed to protect us from harmful consumption of meat, poultry, and egg products. This is not necessarily the case. It has been proven that many of the members of the USDA were staff members of meat, poultry, and dairy industries. Do you see a MAJOR conflict of interest there? It is one. There is an enormous amount of corruption with the USDA. Politics lurk everywhere!! The food industry is no exception. One of the big offending companies was a large chicken manufacturer. This company, which I am not going to name, had to pay a fine of $4 million and was giving four years' probation because they got caught doing things for the USDA Secretary that they shouldn't have. Not only did they received punishment for this offense but the USDA Secretary was requested to resign. Many of the higher ups in the USDA have serious ties to the meat, poultry, and dairy industry. Just because a big slab of meat has a big red shiny sticker on it saying "USDA Approved" doesn't mean it has been thoroughly check. Buy local! I recommend not buying meat period but that is for another day and another post!