Yesterday, FIC blogged about the KING 5 News investigative story in Washington state, where two former USDA inspectors exposed Snokist's "reprocessing" of moldy applesauce and the agency's dismissal of their complaints. The Seattle-based news outlet has now done a follow-up piece that explores the conflicts of interest between USDA and the food industry that may keep the agency from tackling serious health concerns in the food supply. One highlight:

Records obtained by the KING 5 Investigators show Snokist paid more than a half-million dollars in user fees to the USDA in just over three years. The fees pay for USDA inspections and services to monitor the food Snokist is sending to USDA programs like school lunches and food banks.

The inspectors believe their boss ignored their concerns about the applesauce because he didn’t want to lose the money Snokist’s contract brought in to the USDA.

Photo via flickr user elidukeHave you eaten reprocessed moldy applesauce? Two USDA inspectors who were assigned to the Snokist Growers fruit processing plant in Washington state – once a major supplier to the national school lunch program but which filed for bankruptcy in December 2011 – reported moldy applesauce concerns to their supervisor but were repeatedly ignored.

KING 5 News reports:

The inspectors say that leaks in the packaging would cause 300 gallon bags of applesauce to spoil. Snokist would scrape thick mold off the top of the spoiled applesauce, heat-treat the remaining product and then send it down the production line for sale to the public.

Monsanto, a self-proclaimed solver of global agriculture problems, has really just brought more and more chemicals into our food supply. GAP coalition partner, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), gave the company a failing grade yesterday in documenting eight ways Monsanto has taken agriculture in the wrong direction.

In addition to suppressing independent research on its controversial products and spending millions to lobby Congress against measures that threaten the industrial agriculture status quo, Monsanto has brought troubling threats to human and environmental health with the widespread application of its glyphosate (Roundup) herbicide. UCS points out that the genetically engineered (GE) crops Monsanto produced to tolerate glyphosate were supposedly meant to decrease overall herbicide use, but the result has been millions of pounds more instead. Possible links between glyphosate and birth defects, not to mention threats to biodiversity, make this increase unsettling.

Photo courtesy of flickr user b3nscottIt's no secret that the poultry industry is a leading culprit in food integrity no-nos, not to mention a top source of foodborne illness. But you'd think chicken producers – knowing that Campylobacter in poultry sickens 600,000 Americans a year and Salmonella in poultry costs $700 million in annual medical bills – would do the minimum effort of basic facility cleanliness. Not so, according to a new report.

From Meatingplace:

Survey results seem to indicate that about 80 percent of poultry growers don’t ever sanitize their crates, according to an Auburn University survey of 10,317 farms. What’s more, just 18.3 percent sanitize their trucks and trailers – two areas that contribute to the spread of Salmonella and Campylobacter.

Photo via wikimedia user micstenPoultry is one of the most common sources of foodborne illness, and that's despite the presence of USDA inspectors at processing facilities. What we really don't need are companies surpassing government inspection altogether! But one meat company in Kansas City has been accused of doing just that.

Does the organic label mean anything? According to the Cornucopia Institute -- an organic industry research and watchdog organization -- there are illegal synthetic chemicals in some products labeled organic, thanks to corruption in the USDA's National Organic Program (NOP). The group announced yesterday it has requested the department's Office of Inspector General to investigate what seems to be a long-standing controversy.

Heard of DHA and ARA (docosahexaenoic and arachidonic acid)? These supplements -- added to milk (including Dean Foods' Horizon), infant formula and other organic foods -- are derived from oils processed with synthetic petrochemical solvents like hexane and isopropyl alcohol, which Cornucopia's Farm and Food Policy Director Charlotte Vallaeys said are "explicitly banned in organic production."

Photo courtesy of wikimedia user MorriswaWell, it's official. The Supreme Court looked like it was going to side with the meat industry during a November hearing, and today it has confirmed its decision to overturn California's ban on slaughtering downed livestock too sick or weak to stand on their own.

This is very sad news for food integrity advocates everywhere, however unsurprising.

The Associated Press writes:

California strengthened regulations against slaughtering so-called "downer" animals after the 2008 release of an undercover Humane Society of the United States video showing workers abusing cows at a Southern California slaughterhouse. Under California law, the ban on buying, selling and slaughtering of downer cattle also extends to pigs, sheep and goats.

But pork producers sued to stop the law, saying the new law interfered with federal laws that require inspections of downed livestock before determining whether they can be used for meat.