The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "United States Department of Agriculture" ...
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Trouble on the Farm: From Research to Waste
This investigation of animal neglect at the University of Nevada, Reno revealed that: administrators set up a camera in a smoke detector outside a faculty whistleblower's lab; students alleged late-night intruders tampered with e-coli experiments to discredit the professor; a network of unregulated "homeland security" cameras kept the campus under surveillance; "valueless" sheep injected with human stem cells were sent to a university ranch as part of a weed eradication project and were swiftly killed by predators. And, although the University denied all the animal abuse allegations, the USDA cited it for 46 violations in May and another 10 in October, which included many of the same neglects documented in the story.
Tags: University of Nevada - Reno; animal abuse; animal neglect; United States Department of Agriculture; USDA; surveillance; human stem cells; e-coli
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Mad Cow Disease in the United States
Mitchell's investigation revealed several flaws in a few of the U.S. agencies meant to prevent and contain illnesses such as mad cow and Creutzfeld Jakob diseases. This series looks at the problems and inconsistencies within these programs and was also cited in the Inspector General's audit of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's mad cow surveillance program. The investigation also looks into possible cases of mad cow disease in the United States which have gone undetected or may have been kept under wraps.
Tags: Mad Cow Disease; Creutzfeldt Jakob disease; U.S. Department of Agriculture; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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Trouble on the Farm
This series about the University of Nevada-Reno's unethical treatment of their research animals came after five months of extensive investigation by the Reno Gazette-Journal. One university professor is under fire for filing complaints with the USDA about the neglect of animals used to help find new treatments for various diseases. One of the allegations looks at how the university has been disposing of animal carcasses (or parts) in their farm property just a few hundred yards from a Hidden Valley, a residental subdivision. Animal carcasses are left in the open air for coyotes, increasing coyote problems in the area. Other allegations include the unnecessary deaths of 38 pregnant ewes because they were not given food or water, research pigs housed with minimal water or space, and lack of regulations and quality controls for the university.
Tags: research animals; University of Nevada-Reno; Hidden Valley; United States Department of Agriculture
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School Food Safety; School Lunches: Illness On Menu
The Tribune reports on school food illness outbreaks across the United States. The series finds that "dangerous practices exist in the factories where school food is made and in the kitchens and cafeterias where it is warmed and served." The government inspection system for monitoring the $5-billion-per-year school-food business is flawed. It is often difficult to trace spoiled food because subcontractors' identities are rarely disclosed to school officials. The reporter looks at a notorious case in which 1,200 children in North Dakota were sickened by contaminated tortillas.
Tags: schools; education; United States Department of Agriculture (USDA); FOIA requests; lead-based paint; lead poisoning; health violations; bacteria; CAR; meat industry; food safety; FDA; CDC
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Sweet Talk
Florida Trend reports on the United States sugar industry. The price support system adds $1.4 billion to consumers' annual grocery bills, according to GAO reports. Questions have been raised by opponents of the price supports, and they have asked the sugar farmers to open their books and prove they need the supports like other subsidized industries do.
Tags: sugar companies; price supports; subsidies; United States Department of Agriculture
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Tainted meal, tainted system
The Star-Tribune found after 18 Minneapolis grade children became sick that their school was never inspected by the state, county or city sanitarians. In addition, "cafeterias in more than 300 other schools in the state had never been inspected", and numerous other schools had only begun implementing sanitation standards in recent months. The parents of children who could have eaten contaminated food were never notified by their schools."The state and federal systems designed to find the source of contaminated food didn't work and the USDA gave conflicting accounts about whether the meat was contaminated at all." This story lead to Minnesota legislators forming a Children's Environmental Health Issues committee to implement that all school cafeterias are inspected for sanitation.
Tags: United States Department of Agriculture; Food safety; E.Coli
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Animal Farm
The Columbia Missourian investigates puppy mills in the state of Missouri. Two-thirds of the nation's puppies are born in Missouri, however, regulation of the state's puppy mills is the weakest in the country. All other states are regulated by the United States Department of Agriculture. Puppy mills in Missouri, on the other hand, are regulated by Animal Care Facilities Program, a locally opperated agency. The ACFP was created because Missouri has so many puppy mills that the USDA had difficulties regulating them all.
Tags: puppy mills; Missouri; USDA; United States Department of Agriculture; Animal Care Facilities Program
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No title (id: 13484)
PR Watch looks at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the multi-billion dollar animal livestock industry in their cooperation in a PR cover-up of Mad Cow Disease. Although reports of a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) disease showed up in dairy herds in the United States as early as 1985, the public never became fully aware of diseased cows or their links to Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) until 1996.
Tags: It's a mad; mad; mad; mad cow world Livestock Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) FOIA 7 pgs.
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Failing The Grade
A Kansas City Star six-month investigation finds that USDA programs, from farm subsidies to meat inspections, from food labels to protecting the environment, have been usurped by the richest farmers, the giant food conglomerates, the powerful lobbyists. Or they've simply fallen victim to red tape or mismanagement. It found that thousands of rich and large farmers exploit USDA payment limits; meat inspection system exposes the public to deadly disease; minority farmers are disappearing because of discrimination in the all-white USDA; and giant corporations take in millions of dollars to advertise their food products at taxpayer expense.
Tags: USDA subsidies Pulitzer Prize; Federal Government; United States Department of Agriculture; CAR; FOIA
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The Private Business of the Newaygo Sheriff
WZZM-TV (Grand Rapids) airs two series on how Michigan sheriffs illegally profit from federally donated food. An investigation showed that sheriffs use the food, which is earmarked for non-profit programs, in their for-profit jail kitchens.
Tags: VIDEOCLIP TAPE TRANSCRIPT USDA; United States Department of Agriculture; Prisons