ARS Closures & Orange Juice Lawsuit

ARS Closures & Orange Juice Lawsuit

ARS Closures & Orange Juice Lawsuit plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

The announcement that a total of 259 USDA offices will close around the country this year includes the Agriculture Research Service facing their share of downsizing.
ARS Spokesperson Sandy Miller-Hayes says the USDA budget signed last November doomed several of their research facilities

MILLER-HAYES: There was a $39-million dollar reduction in the ARS budget and therefore it’s been known since last February, almost a year now, that there were 9 locations that would most likely close if that budget came to pass.

While the department says they won't lay anyone off, finding positions for displaced researchers may not be easy.

There is more fallout coming from the recent revelation surrounding the orange juice industry. A California woman is suing the maker of Tropicana claiming it is squeezing consumers by touting the best-selling U.S. orange juice as "100% pure and natural" when it is not. The woman said the unit of PepsiCo Inc actually puts the juice through extensive processing, adding aromas and flavors that change its "essential nature" and give it a longer shelf life. Tropicana said it "remains committed to offering great-tasting 100 percent orange juice with no added sugars or preservatives.

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

Unfortunately for most of us there is a new flu strain that’s been found in at least five different states this winter. But at least this time the new strain has been properly named, and that couldn’t make the pork industry happier. This new virus is called Influenza A, or H3N2V and is a non-seasonal influenza. The Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization have new naming protocol for these variant viruses, which are designated with the letter “V”. Dr. Jennifer Koeman, the Director of Producer and Public Health with the National Pork Board, says “this really accurately reflects better to communicate to consumers that pork and pork products are safe.” Two years ago the H1N1 virus was misnamed the “swine flu” with damaging results for pork producers due to the resulting and unnecessary consumer hysteria and shunning of pork products. There have only been twelve cases of this new flu strain reported so far and it does not appear to be highly contagious. As we found out two years ago nothing is as contagious as consumer panic spread by rumor, false alarms, and confused and inconsistent communications from government entities.

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

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