Some days the stupidity of our government amazes me. Don't get me wrong - I tend to think that the government holds the power to do a lot of good things that the private sector and individuals can't do alone. But my god, look at this one:
Geographic Preference Definition for School Meals Expanded
An exciting update from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA),! Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) has expanded the definition of "unprocessed" food that is purchased locally. Previously, even simply slicing a locally bought apple was not allowed under the rules. In a recent memorandum, USDA announced that "cooling, refrigerating, freezing; size adjustment through size reduction made by peeling, slicing, dicing, cutting, chopping, shucking, and grinding; drying/dehydration; washing; the application of high water pressure or "cold pasteurization"; packaging (such as placing eggs in cartons) and vacuum packing and bagging (such as placing vegetables in bags); butchering livestock, fish and poultry; and the pasteurization of milk." are all allowed for locally purchased products in school meals. This is a huge step forward in helping to provide local, fresh, and nutritious meals to students while helping to rebuild local farm economies.
In other words, prior to the 2008 farm bill, schools couldn't try to get local food because they weren't allowed a geographic preference over food providers. The 2008 farm bill changed this, but then the definition of "unprocessed" was taken so literally that the schools still couldn't get local food in many cases. So, at long last, now one more stupid, useless roadblock that shouldn't have been there in the first place has been cleared away. Phew! |
