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Since When Did the USDA Start Promoting ‘Meatless Mondays’?

Jul 26, 2012

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Editorial Debacle Leaves USDA Scrabbling

By Amanda Brodhagen, Farms.com

The United States Department of Agriculture prides themselves on providing leadership on food and agriculture has been found to be promoting “Meatless Monday’s” in their newsletter sent out to employees in order to “reduce their environmental impact.”

This shocking discovery was exposed by Kansas Senator Jerry Moran calling out Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on the Senate Floor asking why USDA was discouraging their employees from consuming meat and dairy products.

"American farmers and ranchers deserve a USDA that will pursue supportive policies rather than seek their further harm. With extreme drought conditions plaguing much of the United States, the USDA should be more concerned about helping drought-stricken producers rather than demonizing an industry reeling from the lack of rain,” Moran said in a statement.

The USDA is on the defensive and has said that the newsletter was distributed without proper approval. The newsletter in question has since been removed from the department’s website.

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In this episode of The Swine it Podcast Show Canada, Dr. Joshua Selsby from Iowa State University explains how heat stress affects swine biology and why now is the ideal time to prepare for next summer’s challenges. He breaks down its effects on muscle function, immune responses, and long-term metabolic outcomes. Learn how early planning can protect herd performance when temperatures rise again. Listen now on all major platforms! "Heat stress leads to a cascade of biological damage, beginning with metabolic disruption and expanding across multiple organ systems." Meet the guest: Dr. Joshua Selsby is a Professor in the Department of Animal Science at Iowa State University. With over 15 years of research on skeletal muscle physiology and heat stress, he focuses on understanding how thermal stress disrupts swine metabolism, immune function, and muscle integrity.