U.S. Department of Agriculture

Unions representing workers at 10 chicken processing plants in six states are suing the U.S. Department of Agriculture to challenge a policy that allows companies to increase production speeds that the unions say puts workers at risk

Wakanda’s free trade agreement with the United States wasn’t forever.

Until Wednesday afternoon, the fictional country from the popular 2018 Marvel superhero movie “Black Panther” was listed as a free trade agreement partner of the United States on the Agricultural Tariff Tracker maintained by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service.

The four largest food banks in Massachusetts are scheduled to meet to discuss how to respond to the partial federal government shutdown.

Go ahead and rinse your cranberries, potatoes and green beans. But food say experts say don’t — repeat don’t — wash the turkey before popping it in the oven on Thanksgiving Day. They say that could spread the germs lurking on your turkey in the kitchen sink or nearby food. But it’s been a challenge trying to convince cooks to...

Tuna maker Bumble Bee Foods said Thursday that it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, with an agreement from Taiwan-based FCF Fishery, its largest creditor, to purchase its assets for roughly $925 million. The bankruptcy proceedings are meant to reduce Bumble Bee’s debt burden caused by “recent and significant legal challenges” and help facilitate the sale. In 2017, the...

Nearly a million children could lose their automatic eligibility for free school lunches under a Trump administration proposal that would reduce the number of people who get food stamps. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has released an analysis that says as many as 982,000 children could be affected by the change. About half would have to pay a reduced price...

Should you rinse raw poultry? Advice over the years has been conflicting. Even cooking legends Julia Child and Jacques Pepin disagreed, but a new study from the Department of Agriculture has a definitive answer: Don’t do it! “The sink could be a source of cross contamination,” warns the USDA’s Dr. Mindy Brashears.

The Trump administration determined that more than 500,000 children would no longer be automatically eligible for free school meals under a proposed overhaul to the food stamp program, but left that figure out of its formal proposal, NBC News reported, citing House Democrats. The U.S. Department of Agriculture wants to crack down on eligibility for food stamps, estimating that 3.1...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture says the 20-year-old Virginia man was not aware of the animal until it emerged after he arrived at a vacation rental property.

If milk is a few days past its “Sell By” date, is it safe to drink? U.S. regulators are urging food-makers to be more consistent with labeling terms like “Best By” and “Enjoy By” that cause confusion. By clarifying the meaning of such dates, they are trying to prevent people from prematurely tossing products and to reduce the mountains of...

Perdue Farms, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, has recalled 31,703 pounds of ready-to-eat chicken products, including gluten-free chicken nuggets sold under their Perdue Simply Smart Organics brand. Announced in a news release Friday, the recall applies to Perdue’s Simply Smart Organics refrigerated gluten-free breaded chicken breast tenders, refrigerated whole grain chicken breast strips, and refrigerated whole grain...

As recent illnesses tied to raw turkey , ground beef , cut melon and romaine lettuce suggest, U.S. food poisoning cases don’t appear to be going away anytime soon. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a report Thursday that the frequency of several types of food poisoning infections climbed last year, but that the increases could be...

In the summer of 2010, reporters at South Dakota’s Argus Leader newspaper decided to request data about the government’s food assistance program, previously known as food stamps. They thought the information could lead to a series of stories and potentially help them identify fraud in the now $65 billion-a-year program. They sent a stream of what they thought were routine...

Mainstream retailers are leaping into the world of products like skin creams and oils that tout such benefits as reducing anxiety and helping you sleep. The key ingredient? CBD, or cannabidiol, a compound derived from hemp and marijuana that doesn’t cause a high. Retailers are taking advantage of the booming industry even as its legal status and health benefits remain...

A Florida woman came across a snake with its head stuck in a beer can and what she did next is different from what many of us would do. She very carefully rescued the reptile. Rosa Fond, the owner of an animal rescue, told WPTV that she waited until the racer snake calmed down then picked up the can.

U.S. government scientists bought hundreds of dead dogs and cats from “Asian meat markets” and conducted experiments that included feeding their remains to healthy lab cats for needless research, according to a disturbing watchdog report being released Tuesday. Other experiments at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s lab in Maryland included feeding dog remains to cats and injecting cat remains into...

Massachusetts education officials are asking more organizations to come forward to sponsor sites for a program that provides meals to schoolchildren during the summer.

Southwest Airlines’ yearlong effort to launch affordable flights to Hawaii is stalled. Craft brewers haven’t been able to ship their seasonal beers. Hundreds of federal rental assistance contracts with private landlords have expired, putting low-income families and seniors at risk of eviction. Across the country, thousands of unpaid government employees and contractors struggling to make ends meet are turning to...

The four largest food banks in Massachusetts are meeting on Monday to discuss how to respond to the ongoing partial federal government shutdown.

Millions of Americans could face going without the benefit that allows them to purchase food if the government shutdown continues into February,...NBC News reported.... The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP or food stamps, costs an average of around $4.8 billion per month, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. But because of the shutdown, USDA has no...