What does the USDA even do? Seriously, we hear about this governmental agency all the time but, aside from vaguely knowing that they have something to do with farming somehow, does anyone really know what they actually do? They’re like the Barney Stinson of the government.

Part of the problem is, they wear a ton of hats, so it’s natural that there would be some confusion about what their real role is in our everyday lives. To try and explain it as succinctly as possible, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the governmental agency that oversees American farming and agricultural interests, as well consumer food safety (among other random things like home loans, but we’re just going to worry about the big ones for now). They’re the ones that inspect the facilities that process the meat, cheese, eggs and produce that we find in the grocery store and they’re the ones that, pending inspections and review, approve products and processes (including packaging and labeling) as safe and accurate for consumers before they hit the shelves.

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