Today’s Commodities: How Do They Measure Up?
By Susan Ricci-Fox, IDEA Director
IDEA recently completed a second Native American Food Systems Initiative Grant from First Nations Development Institute which examined the USDA/FDPIR (Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations) policies on Indian reservations. The project set out to determine how tribes can get traditional foods included in the monthly commodity food distribution; how the commodity food distribution system operates in each tribal community; and how does the nutritional content of monthly commodities contrast/ compare with the Recommended Daily Allowances (RDA) standards.
IDEA worked with tribes in four states which included Montana (Fort Belknap Indian Community), South Dakota (Lower Brule), Wisconsin (Oneida) and Arizona (Tohono O’odham). The research gathered shows that the USDA has indeed made many positive nutritional changes over the past ten years. Previously, commodities came in cans with generic white labels and stark black lettering which simply read “canned meat” or “peaches”. Today, there are brand name products available such as Del Monte, Our Family, Hunts, Kraft etc. and nutritional information is printed on the side of almost every package.
The commodity food system on each reservation operates relatively the same throughout Indian Country. Since it is a federal program, the USDA contracts with various surplus vendors and purchases foods in mass quantities which are then distributed to each reservation based on the number of eligible households. The tribal food distribution director has several ways of making requests to the USDA. There are yearly surveys that he/she distributes to recipients for their comments and regional and national meetings for all food program directors to share their comments to USDA representatives.
Canned or Fresh?
USDA offers most commodity recipients a choice between canned fruits and vegetables or fresh. Typically a family or individual has a choice between fresh produce or canned fruits and vegetables. Each member will receive a set amount of “units” of fruit, vegetables, meat items and grains. Eligible families go to their local distribution center to pick up their foods and there they can choose either a fresh produce item or canned food item. A can of peaches can be substituted for a fresh fruit unit, same as with vegetables. There are certain “specialty” foods that become available during a surplus that are bonus items and do not count against the required number of items; these may include ground bison meat, turkeys, ham, salmon, etc. These are not part of the regular commodity offering and do not count as a unit.
According to Sheldon Gordon of USDA/FNS (Food Nutrition Services), the USDA makes every effort to ensure that commodities provided through the Food Distribution Program are nutritious and of the highest quality. He said USDA takes every possible measure to ensure that the nutritional requirements for the commodities are in line with the goals of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans as well as the MyPyramid food guidance system. The Commodity Procurement Branch usually sends “invitations to bid” to all firms that have expressed an interest in doing
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business with USDA. Bidders must comply with Federal and USDA purchasing regulations and guidelines as the commodities must meet minimum specified requirements and be USDA-inspected to ensure quality.
Commodity Complaints
Nori Danrow, Oneida Food Commodity Director, said periodically she sends out small USDA surveys and asks clients to record any complaints they may have regarding their commodities. She said she almost never receives a negative answer. She has attended the regional and national USDA conferences each year to be brought up to date on policies and share thoughts and ideas with other commodity food directors as well as representatives from USDA.
According to the 2004 Commodity Acceptability Progress Report (CAP), the majority of respondents reported being happy with their commodity packages.
Recipients that do need to file a complaint about a USDA commodity food product are directed to the State Distributing Agency who then forwards that complaint on to the national commodity complaint system. According to all the directors interviewed for this project, the USDA does respond to these complaints when there is one.
Overall, the community members interviewed for this project were very satisfied with the quality of their commodities. “Much improved”, “Good variety”, and “Tasteful” were comments recorded in each of the tribal communities IDEA visited. The only complaint was there were not always enough commodities available in the individual food packages. Also, some tribes only receive produce once a month and they are forced to use canned fruits and vegetables by mid-month after the fresh produce runs out.
In general, the USDA Commodity Program received positive reviews from IDEA medical consultants. Dr. Kevin Weiland said that the foods available through the USDA were fairly healthy and he was encouraged by what was being offered – fruits in light syrup, fresh produce. However, he felt that it still lacks some wholesome foods – whole grains, high fiber, etc. that Native people suffering from obesity are lacking. He analyzed a USDA canned bison stew product which was available in all four regions that IDEA visited and found it was too high in sodium and lacking in fiber and protein especially when compared to a food store chain brand of the same type of product.
Diabetes Educator, Bettina Eulie, RN reports that while having fresh produce in the commodity program is very beneficial, it doesn’t always last long enough and is supplemented by canned fruits and vegetables which she says “cannot replace the vitamins and nutrients and fiber that you find in fresh produce.” She agreed with Dr. Weiland that the overall quality of the commodity foods was impressive – it’s obvious USDA has made strides in supplying foods that are not soaked in sugary syrup or high in fat content.
Unfortunately, the quality of commodities also depends on the storage capabilities of the tribal warehouses which receive them. The Tohono O’odham Food Distribution Center in Arizona does not have refrigeration units and only one freezer so they do not provide fresh produce to their clients. Another problem is that some of the community members don’t have refrigerators in their homes and have to travel far distances to get their commodities so when they come in for chicken or beef, it has to be cooked right away. In this case, mostly canned goods are consumed. Tohono O’odham has one of the highest diabetes rates in the country (Source: Community Attitudes Toward Traditional Tohono O’odham Food).
Overall, the commodity foods do meet the RDA guide for nutrition but both IDEA medical consultants agreed that optimal healthy foods exceed even the RDA standards. However, compared to ten years ago, the commodities that are available now are far superior.
As Ann Helgeson, food distribution director at Fort Belknap notes, there was a time when her tribe used to receive only ten products and all consisted of flour, canned lunch meat and beef. She says there is a big difference now. “Our former USDA representative really used to listen to us. I think the high diabetes rate in Indians is probably one of the biggest reasons that they [USDA] have moved to get fresh produce into the food programs and take some of the fats out of the meat and even the cheese.”
Traditional Foods
Presently, the federal policy of distributing foods into the commodity program makes it nearly impossible for smaller tribal regions to get traditional foods put into the FDPIR. The food item must be mass-produced so there is enough to be distributed to reservations throughout the country. The food goes into a central distribution warehouse and is then sent out to all the tribal commodity centers. In recent years, Congress has appropriated funds for the purchase of bison meat to be distributed out amongst the tribes. This would not be the case with Oneida white corn or Tohono O’odham tepary beans. There simply isn’t enough of these traditional foods to go around. Even the bison that are harvested don’t go back to that original tribe that put the meat into the food program. Portions of that bison meat come from buffalo ranches across the country, not only in Indian Country. Right now, tribes can only distribute traditional foods on their own or make them available for sale to its tribal members. However, when one looks back at how far the quality of commodities has come, perhaps future change with regards to traditional foods won’t be too far behind.
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