Tuesday, 28 April 2026

Trekkin’ 4 Trachies…A New Platform for S3 Kit!

Latest from Food Politics: American tragedy redux: USDA is relocating more programs out of the DC area

It’s deja vu all over again. During the Trump I administration, I wrote repeatedly about the tragic relocation of the USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) to Kansas.   As I said, the Government Accountability Office confirmed my analysis. Why ...
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By Marion Nestle

American tragedy redux: USDA is relocating more programs out of the DC area

It’s deja vu all over again.

During the Trump I administration, I wrote repeatedly about the tragic relocation of the USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) to Kansas.  As I said, the Government Accountability Office confirmed my analysis.

Why tragic?  I don’t have anything against Kansas, but expecting long-time residents of the Washington, DC area to uproot their families to move there seemed designed for only one purpose: to gut the ERS of its experts and to force it to stop producing sophisticated—and honest—analyses of inconvenient food issues.

In this, the move succeeded admirably.  Many experts quit.  Some were rehired to the DC area, but as far as I can tell, the ERS has never recovered.  It continues to publish routine statistical data, but the analytic reports have stopped.  This is an enormous loss to my work in particular, but also to society.

Now the USDA is doing it again, and finished the job on ERS.

Last week, the USDA issued two press releases on the relocations:

I.  USDA Advances Reorganization and Restructuring of the Research, Education, and Economics Mission Area to Improve Efficiency and Better Serve American Farmers

This effort refocuses REE’s structure on mission delivery—streamlining operations, strengthening leadership accountability, and positioning resources closer to the agricultural communities USDA serves. The updated structure will be guided by five core principles: strengthening leadership accountability, reducing organizational complexity, ensuring consistency across agencies where appropriate, leveraging emerging tools and technologies, and aligning clearly with USDA’s priorities.

II.  USDA Announces Food Safety and Inspection Service Reorganization, Establishes National Food Safety Center in Iowa

This one says pretty much the same thing.

Let me translate what the USDA is really doing.

It is moving the hub of the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) to Urbandale, Iowa where it will establish a National Food Safety Center with about 200 employees relocated from Washington, DC (if they agree to move).  It also is relocating employees to Fort Collins, Colorado, and to a Science Center in Georgia (ditto).

Ostensibly, this is to bring FSIS closer to its constituents to strengthen “its ability to protect public health and ensure the safety of the nation’s food supply.”

In practice, the moves will gut the agency, destroy its expertise, and disable it for years to come.

That has to be the intent.

Add these to the 27,000 people who have already left USDA since Trump II, 37% of its staff.  Surely, some of those people helped get the agency’s work done.

Who will be hired to replace the people who choose not to relocate?  I’m guessing those who go along with the current administration’s ideological agenda.

As I said, tragedy.

The post American tragedy redux: USDA is relocating more programs out of the DC area appeared first on Food Politics by Marion Nestle

Now Available: What to Eat Now

My new book, What to Eat Now, is officially out!

It's both a field guide to food shopping in America and a reflection on how to eat well—and deliciously.

For more information and to order, click here.

You can explore the full archive of this (almost) daily blog at foodpolitics.comwhere you'll also find information about my books, articles, media interviews, upcoming lectures, favorite resources, and FAQs.


​​​​​​​

Marion Nestle

Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University, Emerita


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Monday, 27 April 2026

Latest from Food Politics: Happening today: Rally against glyphosate at the Supreme Court: The People vs. Poison

Farm Action has joined Vani Hari (the Food Babe) and other groups in this People vs. Poison rally. Livestream it here. The “poison” here is glyphosate, the potentially carcinoenic weed killer manufactured by Monsanto (now owned by Bayer) for use ...
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By Marion Nestle

Happening today: Rally against glyphosate at the Supreme Court: The People vs. Poison

Farm Action has joined Vani Hari (the Food Babe) and other groups in this People vs. Poison rally.

Livestream it here.

The “poison” here is glyphosate, the potentially carcinoenic weed killer manufactured by Monsanto (now owned by Bayer) for use with genetically modified crops.

People vs. Poison says, “For decades they poisoned us for profit.  Now the people are fighting back”.

The rally is to let the Supreme Court know that there is widespread opposition to Monsanto’s position in the case, Monsanto v. Durnell.  The Court is hearing that case today.  As People vs. Poison explains,

Bayer – the foreign corporation that bought Monsanto – has paid over $10 billion to cancer victims linked to their weed killer Roundup (glyphosate). And there are still tens of thousands of cases pending.

Now Bayer wants to make sure they never have to pay again.

As described in The New Lede, 

Monsanto specifically is asking the Supreme Court to rule that under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), it cannot be held liable for failing to warn of a cancer risk if the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has not found such a risk exists and not required such a warning. FIFRA preempts any state requirements for such a cancer warning, the company argues.

Hundreds of groups have filed briefs on both sides of this case.

Trump’s Department of Justice filed one in support of Monsanto/Bayer.

Farm Action says

Monsanto, owned by Bayer, has mounted an aggressive campaign to secure immunity, leveraging its outsized market power to influence policymakers. The company faces thousands of lawsuits alleging its flagship product, Roundup, causes cancer. As Farm Action has documented, threats to pull Roundup from the market are a strategic pressure tactic, not a sign of impending crisis for the food and farm system…The coalition’s brief urges the Court to reject Monsanto’s argument and preserve the right to hold companies accountable when their products cause harm.

The rally is set for 9:00 this morning.  I will be interested to hear how it goes and whether the Supreme Court listens.

Commentary on what the rally is about

The post Happening today: Rally against glyphosate at the Supreme Court: The People vs. Poison appeared first on Food Politics by Marion Nestle

Now Available: What to Eat Now

My new book, What to Eat Now, is officially out!

It's both a field guide to food shopping in America and a reflection on how to eat well—and deliciously.

For more information and to order, click here.

You can explore the full archive of this (almost) daily blog at foodpolitics.comwhere you'll also find information about my books, articles, media interviews, upcoming lectures, favorite resources, and FAQs.


​​​​​​​

Marion Nestle

Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University, Emerita


© Marion Nestle. You're receiving this email because you've signed up to receive updates from us.

If you'd prefer not to receive updates, you can unsubscribe.


Trekkin’ 4 Trachies…A New Platform for S3 Kit!

Trekkin’ 4 Trachies…A New Platform for S3 Kit! Lynn Fields — April 28, 2026 Hi, my name is Lynn Fields, and I am current...