03/07/05 Appeal or not?; Japan reopen or else

So are they appealing or not? On Thursday, U.S.D.A. spokesperson Ed Lloyd said the agency would appeal Judge Richard Cebull's decision placing a temporary injunction on the final rule allowing Canadian live cattle thirty months and younger and some beef products in that age group back into the U.S. But on Friday, Lloyd clarified his statement. Lloyd said U.S.D.A. was still reviewing its options, one of which was to appeal the decision. But so far, an official decision by U.S.D.A. on if, and what, they plan to do, has not been announced. Flying under the radar of the U.S. Senate's resolution to keep designated Canadian live cattle and beef out of our country was a similar measure introduced in the House that would tell Japan either reopen their border to American beef or face economic sanctions. Kansas Representative Jerry Moran is the author of the bill, but has some big names co-sponsoring the measure, including House Ag Committee Chair Bob Goodlatte and ranking Minority Leader Colin Peterson. U.S.D.A. will be losing its number two man, sort of. Jim Moseley, Deputy Secretary, announced his resignation Friday. But Ag Secretary Mike Johanns adds he has asked Moseley to remain with the agency through June First as a special advisor to an issue Moseley has been closely involved in during his tenure as Deputy Secretary & rebuilding Afghanistan. Johanns said Moseley has accomplished many things for agriculture both domestically and internationally. Now with today's "Food Forethought", here's Susan Allen. ALLEN: Does it come as any surprise that if you are satisfied with your restaurant meal you will revisit that establishment again and even recommend it to your friends, yet this is exactly why the global marketing information service company, J.D. Powers and Associates get paid the big bucks. The group utilized a Customer Commitment Model that had been developed to track customer satisfaction with over 100 chain restaurants for the 2004 restaurant satisfaction study. It is no surprise for those of us that love Olive Garden that they ranked the highest among family/casual restaurants in both the West and the Mid West. In fact here out West they topped the list in three out of four categories; eating environment, meal and service. According to the JD Powers report, restaurants can advertise all they want but unless they provide customers with an excellent experience every time all the advertising will be in vain. (And it took hiring a marketing research firm to that out! Why didn't they just ask us?) I'm Susan Allen and this has been Food Forethought.