Food Truck Rally & Curbing Antibiotics in Livestock

Food Truck Rally & Curbing Antibiotics in Livestock plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

Food trucks are becoming a fairly common site in many places across the northwest. This past weekend a food truck “rally” was held in Boise to emphasize not only the quality and variety of the foods offered but the price and convenience. During our England visit last year we were frequent visitors of the local fish & chip van. The Boise organizers started last fall with only a few trucks a couple hundred followers and expected several thousand for this past weekends event. Anybody hungry?

The USDA will support the FDA’s effort to limit the overuse of antibiotics in meat and poultry feed. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack describes how the two groups will work together on the issue.

VILSACK: USDA knows that America’s livestock producers are concerned about the health and care of their animals and are committed to the judicious use of antibiotics. USDA is working with FDA to ensure the drugs producers need to protect the health of their animals are available in all locations. That FDA holds a series of public meetings throughout the country to hear from producers. That updated outreach materials are provided to our livestock extension community to educate producers about these changes and the judicious use of antibiotics.

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

I can remember when doctors made house calls. I’m not as old as you think, this was in the late sixties, early seventies. It could be because I grew up in a rural community fortunate enough to have not one, but three and sometimes four doctors in town. Now it’s a struggle for rural communities to even have one doctor close by. In response to the need for primary care physicians in rural communities, rural medical education programs have started to crop up around the country. The goal is to recruit students with rural backgrounds so they will understand what it’s like to grow up in a rural community. These med students also take supplemental curriculum, focusing on issues more pertinent to rural doctors. Many newly graduated doctors will not consider rural areas because the economy tends to be poor, creating a vicious circle; because in order to improve the local economy a community needs adequate medical services. Hopefully more young doctors will realize that money isn’t everything. Rural physicians do make a good living, but perhaps the trust, prestige, sense of community, and the realization that a greater need is being met holds even greater value.

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