ACTION: School Lunch, the EPA, and Climate Change

standards (4.00 / 2)

I have not been able to find the composition standards for pork sausage, ground beef, and hot dog type products purchased by USDA for school nutrition programs. I wish USA Today would research this. McD and some other junk food joints use ground beef with 25% fat from edible waste, some better chains use 20% fat content.

The USDA Standard of Identification for fresh pork sausage is 50% fat, the SOI for ground beef is 30% fat, and I think the SOI for hot dog type products is 30% fat. The USA Today article reported that USDA computers automatically award contracts to the lowest bidder who responds to a request for bids, so I'm thinking the USDA is buying "meat" that satisfies the SOIs, not the higher commercial standards. But I don't know, because I haven't been able to locate the contract specifications, if they exist.

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by: count @ Mon Dec 14, 2009 at 16:58:05 PM UTC