Cheese Recall, Child Nutrition & Cuban Trade Bill plus Food Forethought

Cheese Recall, Child Nutrition & Cuban Trade Bill plus Food Forethought. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report. A Yakima, Washington based cheese company, Queseria Bendita is recalling three products after reports of people getting sick. They are: Queso Fresco, Panela, and Requeson. The products are sold in stores and also supplied to many restaurants. Health officials warn anyone who has these products: DO NOT eat them. Child nutrition is a focal point of the Obama Administration and was aptly the topic of the Secretary of Agriculture's speech before the National Press Club Tuesday. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says the reauthorization of child nutrition should ensure that school meals are healthy and nutritious. VILSACK: A 2006 study showed that outside the cafeteria children are 3 times more likely to purchase cookies, cakes, pastries and other high fat and salty snacks than fruits or vegetables. Now food served in vending machines and in the Ala Carte line should never undermine our efforts to enhance the health of the school environment. Legislation has been introduced to expand U.S. agriculture exports to Cuba. H.R. 4645, the Travel Restriction Reform and Export Enhancement Act, is co-sponsored by 30 other Members of Congress. If made into law, the act would eliminate the need to go through banks in other countries to conduct agricultural trades. The bill would also require agricultural exports to Cuba to meet the same payment requirements as exports to other countries. Presently, payment in advance is required. Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Lacy Gray. Well, as Ricky used to say to Lucy, the Obama administration has some 'splaining' to do! Billions of stimulus dollars that were supposed to create "green jobs" here in the good ol' USA have actually been glad handed to numerous foreign owned companies. They've created jobs alright, for workers in Japan, China, France, Germany, and Spain. Other than the small fraction of construction jobs here in the U.S. to erect foreign made wind turbines the main jobs created by the stimulus green dollars for people who live and work in America have gone to the federal government employees hired to promote "green jobs". While there are strict "buy America" provisions in the Recovery Act, the Green Energy Stimulus Initiative turned the tax credits into cash grants strategically bypassing the "Buy America" provision. So the obvious choice out of D.C. was to buy foreign made. And they wonder why the American public has lost faith in their government. An excuse given for so much money going overseas is that there just isn't much of a wind power industry in the U.S. So create one! Or have we forgotten in the last two hundred and thirty plus years how to stand on our own two feet. Thanks Lacy. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.