USDA and HHS Unveil New Food Safety Consumer Website; FoodSafety.gov Features Latest Food Safety, Recall Information Across Federal Government

"There are certain things only a government can do. And one of those things is ensuring that the foods we eat are safe and do not cause us harm." -- President Barack Obama

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack [pictured] and Health and Human Services [HHS] Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, co-chairs of the Obama Administration's Food Safety Working Group, unveiled a new consumer website today at http://www.foodsafety.gov/. The site is designed to help consumers and families get all the latest information on food safety and food recalls in one convenient place.

The new site features information from all the agencies across the federal government that deal with critical food and food safety information -- including preventive tips about how to handle food safely; alerts on life-saving food recalls; and the latest news from the key agencies.

FoodSafety.gov provides consumers with one easy place to sign up to receive e-mail and RSS alerts on recalled or potentially unsafe food, as well as get information from the top scientific experts across the government on food safety. Later phases of the site to be launched will include recall feeds for texting and mobile phones.

The site will also feature a FoodSafety.gov widget that the public and the media are encouraged to download and promote on their websites and social networking sites. The widget will instantly update viewers with the latest food safety recalls, and will be a valuable public health and safety tool.

Leaders from HHS and USDA praised the new site, and said it would be a valuable tool in their efforts to keep our food supply safe and consumers healthy:

"Protecting the health and well-being of the American people is a fundamental responsibility of the federal government," said Secretary Vilsack. "Our new and innovative approach to connecting consumers to food safety information in an easy and timely manner is a critical improvement in this effort."

"The highest mission of any government is keeping its citizens safe," Secretary Sebelius noted. "In this Administration, we see public health as an essential part of that mission. This new website is an essential way we can help keep people safe from unhealthy food and food handling practices, and up-to-date on critical food recalls. Consumers no longer will have to search around in different places trying to figure out which agency manages which food product. All the information that they will need will be in one easy place at http://www.foodsafety.gov/."

"This site focuses on prevention by highlighting the steps both businesses and consumers can take to avoid illness," said Food and Drug Administration [FDA] Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg. "It also will be a clearinghouse for information on the latest FDA rules and guidance."

"Health departments and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] rely on information from many places, including consumers, when it comes to tracking food-borne illnesses across the country and the world," said CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden. "With this new website, consumers will quickly know who to contact if they believe they became ill from eating a certain food. Those reports of illness can help us identify potential outbreaks sooner and strengthen our efforts to protect Americans from unsafe food and food-borne illness."

"Protecting the American people from food-borne illness is a critical mission of the U.S. Department of Agriculture," added Jerry Mande, Deputy Under Secretary for Food Safety at USDA. "Our work is designed to prevent outbreaks of food-borne illness from occurring, and to react quickly and decisively to contamination in the food supply. The new FoodSafety.gov site will provide families with a one-stop online shop for all the latest information they need to reduce the danger of food-borne illnesses."

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Agriculture
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During Memorial Day Weekend, Make Time to Honor the Service of Troops and Their Families

This morning, President Barack Obama called on the American people to join him in paying tribute to America’s veterans, servicemen and women – particularly those who have made the ultimate sacrifice -- and their families. America’s troops and their families embody what is best in America, and the American people have a responsibility to serve them as well as they have served us.

During his weekly radio address, President Obama called on all Americans to honor the service of troops and their families. Following, is the full text of his prepared remarks:

* * *

This Memorial Day weekend, Americans will gather on lawns and porches, fire up the grill, and enjoy the company of family, friends, and neighbors. But this is not only a time for celebration. It is also a time to reflect on what this holiday is all about: to pay tribute to our fallen heroes; and to remember the servicemen and women who cannot be with us this year because they are standing post far from home -- in Iraq, Afghanistan, and around the world.

On Friday, I traveled to Annapolis, where I spoke at the Commencement of the United States Naval Academy. It was an honor to address some of America’s newest sailors and Marines as their Commander-in-Chief. Looking out at all of those young men and women, I was reminded of the extraordinary service that they are rendering to our country. And I was reminded, too, of all of the sacrifices that their parents, siblings, and loved ones make each day on their behalf and on our behalf.

Our fighting men and women -- and the military families who love them -- embody what is best in America. And we have a responsibility to serve all of them as well as they serve all of us.

And yet, all too often in recent years and decades, we, as a nation, have failed to live up to that responsibility. We have failed to give them the support they need or pay them the respect they deserve. That is a betrayal of the sacred trust that America has with all who wear -- and all who have worn -- the proud uniform of our country.

And that is a sacred trust I am committed to keeping as President of the United States. That is why I will send our servicemen and women into harm’s way only when it is necessary, and ensure that they have the training and equipment they need when they enter the theater of war.

That is why we are building a 21st century Department of Veterans Affairs with the largest single-year funding increase in three decades. It’s a commitment that will help us provide our veterans with the support and benefits they have earned, and expand quality health care to a half-million more veterans.

That is why, this week, I signed a bill that will eliminate some of the waste and inefficiency in our defense projects -- reform that will better protect our nation, better protect our troops, and save taxpayers tens of billions of dollars.

And that is why we are laying a new foundation for our economy, so that when our troops return home and take off the uniform, they can find a good job, provide for their families, and earn a college degree on a Post-9/11 GI Bill that will offer them the same opportunity to live out their dreams that was afforded our greatest generation.

These are some of the ways we can, must, and will honor the service of our troops and the sacrifice of their families. But we must also do our part, not only as a nation, but as individuals, for those Americans who are bearing the burden of wars being fought on our behalf. That can mean sending a letter or a care package to our troops overseas. It can mean volunteering at a clinic where a wounded warrior is being treated or bringing supplies to a homeless veterans center. Or it can mean something as simple as saying "Thank you" to a veteran you pass on the street.

That is what Memorial Day is all about. It is about doing all we can to repay the debt we owe to those men and women who have answered our nation’s call by fighting under its flag. It is about recognizing that we, as a people, did not get here by accident or good fortune alone. It’s about remembering the hard winter of 1776, when our fragile American experiment seemed doomed to fail; and the early battles of 1861, when a union victory was anything but certain; and the summer of 1944, when the fate of a world rested on a perilous landing unlike any ever attempted.

It’s about remembering each and every one of those moments when our survival as a nation came down not simply to the wisdom of our leaders or the resilience of our people, but to the courage and valor of our fighting men and women. For it is only by remembering these moments that we can truly appreciate a simple lesson of American life -- that what makes all we are and all we aspire to be possible, are the sacrifices of an unbroken line of Americans that stretches back to our nation’s founding.

That is the meaning of this holiday. That is a truth at the heart of our history. And that is a lesson I hope all Americans will carry with them this Memorial Day weekend and beyond.

Thank you.

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If you'd like to view the video of President Obama's Memorial Day-themed weekly address, click here.

Make time this weekend to remember and recognize those who have served our country. And, please, be safe!

SOURCE: The White House
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DayTradingRobot.com Creator: 'I'll Retire If This Stock Doesn't Triple in Price!'

Editor's note: This morning, after the Obama administration officially launched its plan to free frozen credit markets, stocks surged across the board. Investors reignited a two-week rally after hearing the government's plan to help banks remove as much as $1 trillion in bad assets from their books, and home sales showed a surprise increase. Major stock indexes jumped as much as 4 percent.

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