What Does the Department of Agriculture Do?

The food pyramid was created by nutritionists at the USDA to provide important dietary information to consumers. MyPyramid, a modern version of the food pyramid, is flexible to meet the nutritional needs of different people, including children and pregnant women. The department oversees regulation on nutrition labels. It has established children's nutrition programs, including the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program. Standards and regulations regarding food packaging and food quality are overseen by the USDA.

The USDA researches food safety and monitors the food industries to assure regulations are followed. The USDA works with the Department of Homeland Security to protect Americans from intentional tampering with or poisoning of food.

The USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline assists more than 80,000 people with food-related questions every year. Food poisoning, proper handing, storage and preparation and food recalls are typical topics that concern callers. Food-safety specialists staff this call center.

The Food Safety and Inspection Service is part of the USDA. This service monitors all food recalls in the country. You can sign up to receive email notification of recalls on their website.

Home canning and food preservation information is distributed by the USDA.

The USDA is involved in regulatory activities for the beef industry, dairy industry and the poultry and pork industries. In addition to keeping statistics of production and economics, the USDA is responsible for ensuring that animal-processing facilities are kept to standards to avoid public-health risk.

The USDA is also concerned about animal health issues. The National Animal Disease Center is a research center focused on health issues affecting animals.

Several USDA programs assist farmers and ranchers. Several natural-disaster assistance programs help farmers during droughts, floods and other disasters by providing food, loans and food-safety information. Farm loans are issued through the USDA to assist farmers and ranchers with equipment, land, seed and livestock.

The USDA also oversees price-support programs such as Commodity Loan Programs, Market Loss Assistance Payment and Trade Adjustment Assistance. They also maintain statistics on pricing for crops and animals, and loan rates.

The USDA maintains records of crop production, weather, yield and harvesting. It creates agricultural-outlook reports and keeps records of pesticide application. The National Organic Program is run by the USDA. It regulates the standards for product to be certified as organic. The Noxious Weed Program helps prevent the spread of weeds that choke plant growth. The Plant Diseases National Program helps farmers detect and prevent diseases that can ruin a crop.