Food Safety Bill & NW Weed Getting Attention

Food Safety Bill & NW Weed Getting Attention plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

President Obama is calling House approval of the Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009 a major step forward in modernizing our food safety system and protecting Americans from foodborne illness. The President says the bill passed Thursday will raise food safety standards, allow the FDA to issue mandatory recalls of harmful products and enhance our oversight of imported food. But not everyone agrees with the President as voiced by House Ag Committee Ranking Member Frank Lucas.

LUCAS: There are other provisions that are troublesome. One in particular would mandate the FDA to set on farm production performance standards. I’m stunned that more people are not outraged by this concept.

Rush skeletonweed poses a threat to irrigated lands, dryland cropping areas and rangelands. The weed is mainly found in the Pacific Northwest. But researchers say finding effective biocontrols could be easier now that all genotypes of the invasive weed have been identified in North America. It affects the cattle industry by displacing beneficial forage plant species - and its tall, wiry stems hinder the operation of crop harvest machinery. The weed also invades forests - outcompeting native plants for valuable nutrients.

Now with today’s Food Forethought, here’s Lacy Gray.

Well, we saw this one coming. The U.S. postal service is looking at possibly cutting costs by closing nearly seven hundred post offices and trimming mail delivery to five days a week instead of six. With most people now relying on the internet to write letters, do business, and pay bills the U.S. postal service has seen a dramatic decrease in the amount of regular mail being sent resulting in a staggering multi billion dollar loss. Thankfully the post offices that are being regarded for closure are in urban areas where customers usually don’t have far to go to find another one, unlike rural areas where persons may have to travel several miles to reach their nearest post office. When asked how they felt about cutting Saturday mail delivery most people responded that they had no problem with it, but that the suggested Monday, Wednesday, and Friday delivery only to residences was not something they were comfortable with.  Sadly, like its predecessor the Pony Express, the U.S. postal service may soon find itself simply put out of business due to “technological innovation”.

Thanks Lacy. That’s today’s Northwest Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.