Latest news with #BrookeL.Rollins
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Rumors of devastating pest are unfounded, per MO Department of Agriculture
MISSOURI — Rumors of a devastating pest being in Missouri are unfounded, according to the Missouri Department of Agriculture (MDA). New World Screwworm (NWS) disease is an infestation with the larvae of the NWS fly that lives off the flesh of living mammals and, less commonly, birds, according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). This pest burrows into living tissue, causing severe — and sometimes deadly — damage to animals, including livestock and pets, says the MDA. Rumors of NWS being detected in Missouri are circulating but are unfounded, per the MDA. 'Unfounded rumors are circulating regarding NWS in Missouri,' the MDA said in a statement. 'To date, the MDA and the USDA has received no notification of New World Screwworm detection in Missouri. Missouri Department of Agriculture works closely with USDA on animal health issues.' The Missouri Cattlemen's Association shared the statement on social media, noting that the rumors have resulted in unnecessary alarm within the state cattle industry. Globally, however, the issue is persisting. According to the USDA, in the year of 2023, NWS detections in Panama exploded from an average of 25 cases per year to more than 6,500 cases in 1 year. Since then, screwworm has been detected in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, and Mexico, north of the biological barrier that's successfully contained this pest to South America for decades, per the USDA. Earlier this month, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins announced the suspension of live cattle, horse and bison imports through U.S. ports of entry along the southern border due to the continued and rapid northward spread of NWS in Mexico, effective immediately. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
USDA approves SNAP waivers for 3 states, where does Arkansas' stand?
Video: Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders announces plan to remove sugary foods from SNAP from April 2025. LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — After Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced a plan to remove sugary foods from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, three states have had waivers approved. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins has approved waivers for Nebraska, Indiana and Iowa to remove sodas and sugary and unhealthy foods since the start of May, the first three states to be approved. Indiana and Arkansas were the first states to announce plans to ban soft drinks and candy from the program that helps low-income people pay for groceries. However, a spokesperson from the Arkansas Department of Human Services told KNWA/FOX24 on Tuesday that the state's waiver is still pending approval from the USDA. World War II soldier from Gravette killed during D-Day invasion to be buried next month Sanders said in a presser on April 15 that 23% of food stamp spending goes toward soft drinks, unhealthy snacks, candy and desserts. She said the waiver will ensure that taxpayers' dollars are spent on healthier food options. The plan, which would go into effect in July 2026, would exclude soda, including no- and low-calorie soda; fruit and vegetable drinks with less than 50% natural juice; 'unhealthy drinks;' candy, including confections made with flour, like Kit Kat bars; and artificially sweetened candy. A waiver signed by Arkansas Secretary of Health and Human Services Kristi Putnam said the exclusion would not extend to flavored water, carbonated flavored water, and sports drinks. One item would be added to the list of foods eligible for SNAP benefits: hot, ready-to-eat rotisserie chicken. Sander said in the April presser that if approved, the waiver would last for five years. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
USDA increases funding to reimburse states for food safety inspections
HENDERSON, Ky. (WEHT) – U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins announced she will exercise the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) authority to provide a funding increase of $14.5 million in reimbursements to states for meat and poultry inspection programs. The USDA explains without this funding, states may not have the resources to continue their own inspection programs to ensure products are safe. Two juveniles arrested after report of gun-involved dispute Ted McKinney, CEO of NASDA, explained state meat and poultry inspection programs are vital to maintaining a safe and resilient food system, especially for small and medium-sized producers and processors. McKinney says he applauds the USDA for providing an additional $14.54 million to increase the reimbursement rate for a 'critical state cooperative agreement' in this fiscal year. New Jasper Municipal pool opens McKinney notes in recent years, the USDA has been providing states with significantly less funding, which has affected states' abilities to provide inspection services. Increasing the reimbursement rate for states participating in this cooperative agreement ensures that more efficient processing options for local livestock producers remain in operation, especially for smaller farms. According to McKinney, he is encouraged that President Trump's budget included a similar funding request for state meat and poultry inspection programs. McKinney says this investment will help safeguard consumers, support farmers and ensure that state-inspected meat and poultry continue to reach American dinner tables efficiently and safely. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Secretary Rollins signs waivers to amend SNAP in Indiana
HENDERSON, Ky. (WEHT) – U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins signed waivers to amend the statutory definition of food for purchase for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs (SNAP) in Indiana and Iowa, each commencing in 2026. 'Indiana is proud to be a leader in the Make America Healthy Again initiative, and today Secretary Rollins signed our waiver to return SNAP in Indiana to its intended purpose: nutrition. President Trump and Secretary Rollins are putting our farmers first and supporting American agriculture, and I was proud to join them today,' said Governor Braun. Here's what's in the GOP's 'big, beautiful bill' Officials say prior to these waivers, SNAP recipients could buy anything except alcohol, tobacco, hot foods and personal care products. This action expands the list of products excluded from SNAP purchases in Indiana and Iowa. Indiana's waiver excludes soft drinks and candy, and it will take effect January 1, 2026. According to the USDA, as part of the Make America Healthy Again agenda, this action seeks to reverse disease trends across the country. Prediabetes now affects one in three children ages 12 to 19; 40% of school-aged children and adolescents have at least one chronic condition and 15% of high school students drink one or more sodas daily. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Straits Times
21-05-2025
- Health
- Straits Times
In approving soda ban for food stamps, US govt reverses decades of policy
The American Heart Association said it 'unequivocally' supported reducing the consumption of sugary drinks as a means to combat heart disease. PHOTO: AFP In approving soda ban for food stamps, US govt reverses decades of policy WASHINGTON – For two decades, the federal government has rejected states' efforts to ban purchases of sugary drinks using food stamps, hesitant, in part, to cross an unusual coalition of corporate interests and anti-poverty groups. Now, the Trump administration has waded in, approving a first-of-its-kind waiver on May 19 for Nebraska to ban purchases of soda and energy drinks through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programme (SNAP), known as food stamps. It is likely to pave the way for more state waivers, signaling a sharp shift in nutrition policy. Under the proposal, Nebraska will establish a programme, beginning in January 2026 and affecting some 150,000 food stamp recipients in the state. Nebraska, in its waiver application, said it would regularly survey participants in the state to evaluate changes in their spending habits and examine retailer data to assess reductions in purchases of soda and energy drinks. A spokesperson for the state's department of Health and Human Services said that Nebraska would also provide technical assistance to help retailers make the transition. In a statement on May 19 , Mrs Brooke L. Rollins, the agriculture secretary, called the approval 'a historic step to Make America Healthy Again'. Nebraska governor Jim Pillen also welcomed the step, saying, 'There's absolutely zero reason for taxpayers to be subsidising purchases of soda and energy drinks'. The prohibition adds to the limits recipients face in using the programme. Already, their benefits do not apply to hot foods, non-food items, alcohol and tobacco products. In recent months, Nebraska and other states, largely led by Republican governors, have sought waivers to extend those restrictions to unhealthy purchases. A spokesperson for the Agriculture Department said on May 20 that the agency was reviewing and working with Iowa, Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, West Virginia, Colorado, Idaho, and Utah on similar waivers. A wave of approvals would come after decades of Agriculture Department denials under both Democratic and Republican administrations, including President Donald Trump's first. In letters explaining its rejections over more than a decade and in a 2007 policy paper, the Agriculture Department expressed concerns over the rationale, feasibility and effectiveness of such bans: Which, out of hundreds of thousands of products, should be banned? How would grocery stores, especially smaller shops not using advanced checkout systems, enforce such bans? And how would a state or city study the effect of these bans? Asked about such bans during a congressional hearing in 2017, Mr Sonny Perdue, Mr Trump's first agriculture secretary, questioned whether enforcing such restrictions was unduly interfering in people's lives. 'On what level do we want to become a nanny state of directing how, and what, people feed their families?' he said then. The second Trump administration has struck a different tone. Mrs Rollins and Mr Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health secretary, have written that their agencies had 'a duty to fix' the obesity and chronic disease epidemics, encouraging steering 'taxpayer dollars to go toward wholesome foods' using waivers. Past bipartisan resistance to food stamp restrictions on unhealthy foods stems from the messy politics of the issue and the strange bedfellows it has united both in support and in opposition. The American Heart Association said it 'unequivocally' supported reducing the consumption of sugary drinks as a means to combat heart disease. Right-leaning groups like the American Enterprise Institute and some conservative members of Congress have asserted that the bans would incentivise healthier purchases and return SNAP to its original purpose of helping poor people afford nutritious food. Conversely, trade groups representing grocery stores and beverage companies argue that bans would be difficult and costly to enact at the cash register and unfairly single out soda as a cause for obesity. Anti-hunger and anti-poverty organisations fear such bans may lead to broader cuts to food stamps and state that such restrictions are paternalistic. Dr Thomas A. Farley, who was New York City's health commissioner at the time it requested a waiver in 2011, said in an interview that he had been 'hopeful' about approval given numerous meetings, discussions and phone calls with federal officials, only to be met with disappointment. The reasons cited by the Agriculture Department in denying New York's request in 2011 – the feasibility and large-scale nature of a citywide ban – felt like 'a smoke screen', Dr Farley said. He added that he believed interests from farm states that produce corn, used in the high-fructose corn syrup in soda, were the real forces behind the denial. Those forces are still in play today. But Dr Farley marvelled at how 'the Trump movement has scrambled a lot in politics'. After the American Beverage Association issued a rebuke of Arkansas' waiver request in April, Mrs Rollins wrote on social media that the trade group's leadership was 'in direct conflict with this administration's priorities for American health, well-being and taxpayer protection'. Dr Marion Nestle , a nutritionist at New York University and author of a book on soda bans, said that the current momentum reflected both opponents' fears and supporters' wishes. 'Some of this comes from the belief that taxpayers should not be subsidising unhealthy diets,' she said, noting that sodas were the natural start given the ingredients and low nutritional value. 'Some of it reflects condescending attitudes that poor people don't know what's good for them. And I'm guessing some of it is a cover for efforts to cut SNAP.' NYTIMES Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
