that exactly right so so why who are the u.s.d.a. approved for this and when and why. ok a few weeks ago it was proved floor and read back not just a pretty but recommended for all of the nation's public schools and now this is after a couple of months ago a number of fast food chains publicly said that they were not going to be using this product which is a type of thing called lean finally textured beef that is now commonly called pink slime and they were going to do that anymore but the u.s.d.a. recommended that all schools use beef that that contains. pink slime and then there was such an outcry after reports began to circulate in the media about this but the u.s.d.a. now think as well schools have the option of not acting. filling this order basically but the problem is that it's a little bit of too late you know too little too late because a lot of schools that are to place their orders for last year wasn't the syringe and only allowed in through our food supply technically a reagan appointee in the last months of the george herbert walker bush administration i w

and there was the u.s.d.a. civil rights initiative there was some high profile lesbians there was very qualified. other individuals and not one of them said anything you know they should really resign if this is so bad did i handed them the pink menace. this was actually brought to us courtesy of a woman by the name of joanne smith. who was appointed by george herbert walker bush and in the last hours of the george h.w. bush administration as as undersecretary of the u.s.d.a. authorize the government to start iraq or offer to authorize the need companies to start calling what used to be called gristle only useful for dog food or words to that effect start calling this finely ground beef and thus we got a pink slime and then she went just a matter of few weeks later i'm sorry i don't have exact number here but she went to work for beef products inc the company that i just mentioned that you know is giving money to the romney campaign we're just manufacturing slime and she's made over a million bucks there i mean

reporting washington. >> the u.s.d.a. has a hotline and a new website for the public to report alleged fraud. you see the number on the screen. you can call it and you can find the information on the website as well. >>> you know the weekend is coming, the clocks switching back and you know it's a perfect time to see a wellness coach. >> a new way to calm you down and protect from you that crazy life. >> >> and sex ed without the sex? what teens think. >> and you can feel it? the solar storm is hitting us right now. if it's causing damage when we return in 60 seconds. . >>> we haven't seen this in about a half decade. a massive solar storm and it's happening right now. it started at 6:00 this morning. >> you can't feel it but as chuck shows us, there is still time for it to cause problems. . >> reporter: brace yourself n is what the sun spit out tuesday. huge erupting flares right now it's racing to earth at four million miles an hour. >> this is coming toward it us. beware, keep watching,. >> reporter: keep watching, the

for example, the u.s.d.a. allows me to market this as a comedy show but any effort will include 15% of finely texted product. grounded up jokes, swear words. oh, we're good. we're smart people, though. we can figure this out. what can we do? what can we do? ah! i've got it. pink slime is aallowed to make up 15% of our ground beef product so maybe we could have our burgers be 100% beef but just 15% smaller. yeah. i'm just spitballing here, which, by the way, is about 7% of most burgers. let's just cut out the pink slime. a win-win-win-win. >> the makeerce of the meat filler known as ping slime has suspended operations at all but one of its plant. >> 200 people will lose their jobs at three plant. >> jon: we're a pink slime-based economy. ( laughter ). so by not putting pink slime in my kids' mouths, i'm taking slime out of the mouths of kids trying to put slime on their family's table. guilty and nauseous. well played, meat industry, well employeed. >> joooon! >> jon: this could be a whole new start for america

. >> reporter: keven who declined to go on camera heads the u.s.d.a. food stamp program.a phone interview he said his agency has cracked down on fraud in recent years, when we returned to food marte last month store employees said the store no longer takes food manies. >> back with the coupons, the fraud was in the 4% range. since we have gone to the electronic cards, it runs more in the 1% range. >> reporter: the electronic benefit transfer cards are supposed to make it so you can't buy banned items but with employees they can game the system. a clerk could ring up this six pack of beer, as this box of ce, are real or charge $50 on the dollar and get 25 in return. a whopping $50,000 extra a month according to a indictment involving food stamp fraud. if caught store owners are forever barred from participating in the program but working with the news service we cross referenced public documents to find that they use various aliases to get around the ban. it's easier to let the scams continue. >> many cases it's more cost effort political pain and potentialal blow back in

companies spend five point six billion dollars this year lobbying specifically to keep pizza friendly u.s.d.a. guidelines in place this social consequence of overweight kids has a million skirt lee battling diabetes and millions more vulnerable to heart disease and shortened life expectancy thing about one in three children are obese or overweight in this country one in five four year olds are over are obese actually which is astounding and the fact that congress. is not willing to change the food policy in our school cafeterias to benefit the health of our children is really appalling granted issues such as proper control and obesity are not new problems for america but over the years a hunger for profits has compromised the health of an entire generation the u.s. apartment of the friends says twenty five percent of young americans are too overweight to join the military and the damage so bad that supports a threats to national security. our short but quite totally unscientific poll found americans picking logic over the world of their lawmakers look like pizza. it doesn't work it's made it.

mean i wouldn't want to drink water that you can catch on fire but at the same time right now the u.s.d.a. is going back on their plan requiring this environmental review do you find this troubling. yeah because see the review is about mortgages the agriculture department for farms and we have f.h.a. and and other government agencies which guarantee home mortgages if you have homes where you have fracking under those homes these fracking lines can run eight miles under under houses and those houses end up contaminated bill the land becomes poisoned the water systems are destroyed those homes are worthless then the us government is on the hook for those people are in real trouble because you think they've allowed something safe they may get five bucks a month in royalties but now their homes worthless we have to find out i mean it's just like having a termite inspection there literally saying. we're not going to look you know if there's no problem what's the danger in looking they don't want to look because they're afraid of what they're going to see except that means that the u.s. taxpaye

. >> i can take a picture and send it back to these guys to the u.s.d.a.fresno state and they get back to me within hours with an exact answer of what is wrong with the chicken and how to help them. >> reporter: u.s. forces helping a transitional government secure agricultural sustainabilities through technology and outreach. in fresno, california, claudia cowan fox news. >>> the popularity of raw milk is growing in the barack. even though top health officials say it can be dangerous the danville farmers' market has been selling raw milk for years and now sells four times amount when he first started and chamas long as dairies feed and care for their cows properly, raw milk is safe. >> in 13 years i have never found a bad pathogen because the cows are eating grass. >> i am not allergic to this milk at all. >> raw milk is legal in california, but it is prohibited for sale in more than two dozen states. many officials including those at the centers for disease control warn against drinking. 46% of those got sick from dairy products got ill from raw milk. >>

plus, on the rundown, gardeners share their thoughts on the u.s.d.a.'s new plant-hardiness zone map, a guide to which species can survive in winter. all that and more is on our web site, newshour.pbs.org. judy? >> woodruff: and that's the newshour for tonight. on wednesday, we'll look at the political landscape ahead for republican president hopefuls after the super tuesday contests. i'm judy woodruff. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill. we'll see you online, and again here for a special election report at 11:00 p.m. eastern time as well as tomorrow evening. thank you, and good night. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:

plus, on the rundown, gardeners share their thoughts on the u.s.d.a.'s new plant-hardiness zone map, a guide to which species can survive in winter. all that and more is on our web site, newshour.pbs.org. judy? >> woodruff: and that's the newshour for tonight. on wednesday, we'll look at the political landscape ahead for republican president hopefuls after the super tuesday contests. i'm judy woodruff. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill. we'll see you online, and again here for a special election report at 11:00 p.m. eastern time as well as tomorrow evening. thank you, and good night. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> bnsf railway. >> and by the bill and melinda gates foundation. dedicated to the idea that all people deserve the chance to live a healthy, productive life. and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer pro

plus, on the rundown, gardeners share their thoughts on the u.s.d.a.'s new plant-hardiness zone map, a guide to which species can survive in winter. all that and more is on our web site, newshour.pbs.org. judy? >> woodruff: and that's the newshour for tonight. on wednesday, we'll look at the political landscape ahead for republican president hopefuls after the super tuesday contests. i'm judy woodruff. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill. we'll see you online, and again here for a special election report at 11:00 p.m. eastern time as well as tomorrow evening. thank you, and good night. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> this is "bbc world news america." >> funding for this presentation is made possible by -- the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu, newman's own foundation, and union bank. >> at union bank, our relationship managers use their expertise in global finance to guide you through the business strategies and opportunities of international commerce. we put our extended global network to work for a wide

it was zernstein who in a u.s.d.a. term pink slime and is now coming forward to say he won't buy it. >> it's economic fraud. it's not fresh ground beef. it's a cheap substitute being added in. >> reporter: zernstein and his fellow usda scientist carl custer both warned against using what the industry calls lean finely textured beef and is widely known now as pink slime. but their government bosses overruled them. >> why didn't you consider it beef? >> because it was a salvage product. >> leftovers -- >> fat that had. heated at low temperature and the excess fat spun out. >> reporter: and it doesn't have to appear on the label because over objections of its own scientists usda officials with links to the beef industry labeled pink slime meat. >> the undersecretary says it's pink, therefore it's meat. >> reporter: abc news has learned the woman who made the decision to okay the mix is former undersecretary of agriculture joanne smith. a call that led to hundreds of millions of dollars for beef products, inc., the makers