January 10, 2025 • 29 mins
Dr. Rachael Lee, the Associate Professor with UAB’s Division of Infectious Disease talks about how to prevent the spread of Flu, RSV and Covid 19. Then from the USDA Under Secretary Jenny Moffitt explains the importance of maintaining a more resilient supply chain in times of disaster in Alabama.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
The new year brought more than just resolutions. Flu cases
are on the rise here in Alabama following the winter
holiday gathering. Hello, I'm John Mounts and this is Viewpoint
Alabama on the Alabama Radio Network, and I'm always glad
to have doctor Rachel Lee, an associate professor with the
Division of Infectious Diseases at uab's hear Sing School of Medicine,
back in our studios. Doctor Lee, Welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Welcome, thank you, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
So every it happens almost every year where we travel.
I know I do. I go out of state. I
go see family members from like three other states, all
packed into a very small room in a very small house,
and we're all sitting there talking in close proximity. And
then we share and share alike, and we bring back
our viruses to our home state. And then we meet
with our friends and coworkers after the holidays, and now,
(00:49):
big surprise, everybody's got a cold, everyone's got the flu.
So what did we do wrong?
Speaker 2 (00:54):
I don't think it's necessarily things that you did wrong.
It's just unfortunately that time of year, we do see
a lot of respiratory viruses. Sometimes people have virus and
they may not be showing symptoms yet. So while you
may be happy and loving on one another during your
holiday season, well then unfortunately what also comes besides hugs
are respiratory viruses. So we do have a few things
(01:16):
that we can do to try to protect ourselves and
protect our loved ones. First and foremost, of course, you know,
if you are not feeling well, we don't want you
to go and hang.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Out with people.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
You really need to stay home, try to get better,
drink lots of fluids. And then if you are feeling
fine but are seeing other people wash your hands, you
can also consider wearing masks. And then of course we
have vaccines. Really, prevention is key during this respiratory viral season,
so we try to protect ourselves as much as we can.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
So we're talking respiratory viruses like COVID, like RSV, like
any of these things. A lot of the same things
that were drilled into our heads during COVID are still
very much in practice now, right You mentioned washing your hands,
and washing your hands is it's more than just running
water over your hands for fifteen seconds and just making
it look like you know, so that everyone else in
the bathrooms go oh, yeah, he washed his hands. You
(02:05):
want to do a thorough job, right, right, right.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
I mean they've looked at those studies to see how
well people wash their hands, and unfortunately we don't wash
our hands as well as we'd like to think that
we do. So really, you want to really lather up,
get those bubbles, get it in between your fingers, get
it around the bottom or the palms of your hands,
as well as the back of your hands. Typically, I
say to sing Happy Birthday twice is about the amount
of time that you can do that for washing your hands.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Depending on how fast you sing.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Yes, yeah, I mean if it's going like in five seconds,
maybe you should sing that four times.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Then well. And you know, I was thinking about this
because a lot of bathrooms they have this soap that's
that foamy's kind of soap and you squirre it on
your hands, and I guess the best practice is actually
kind of spread that around first and then rinse, because otherwise,
if you run the water right away, you just rinsed
all the soap off. You didn't actually get any soap really.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Right, right, And what I typically tell patients is that
you want your hands wet, You want to try to
create a detergent, which is what the soap does. It
goes in there and it breaks open the cells of
the virus so that they can't live anymore. So in
order to do that, it has to be wet, and
then you have to have that lather, so I may
get my hands wet first, then get the soap. You
really try to conserve as much water as you can
so you can turn that off while you're singing your
(03:11):
happy Birthday songs.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
And soap's kind of an amazing molecule because it lowers
service tensions, so it allows penetration, so it's more than
just water. That's why we add the soap in addition
to just the water.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Right right exactly. The other thing that we have is
alcohol based hand rub so those work just as well
unless your hands are grimy and dirty, that's when I
recommend soap. But you know, kind of throughout the day,
you can use that alcohol based hand sanitizer. They come
in small containers and you can carry them in your
purse or in your bag, so that's also another option
to keep your hands clean throughout the holiday season.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Although if you use those, you should probably follow with
some lotion because this time of year, your hands get
very dry when you use that stuff.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Oh, yes, definitely, I'm feeling it now, that's for sure.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Now.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Another thing that we saw that was very popular during COVID,
I want to say popular, but you saw a lot
more of it during COVID was the masking. And masking
has gone by the wayside, and a lot of us
are very happy about that. But at the same time,
there are times when a mask is a good idea.
Can you talk about that?
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Yeah, you know, I think masking can be a very
difficult topic because we connect it so much to that pandemic,
and we live through a pandemic. So we have to
praise ourselves for that because we've learned a lot through that.
One of those things that we realize is that wearing
a mask is incredibly helpful, especially if you are the
one that's sick. It really does contain your virus and
(04:30):
not spread it to one another. So if you are
not feeling well, you kind of don't know what's going on,
just yet, get a mask, wear it, and then probably
in the next few hours you'll know if this is
more of the allergies that you may see or something
worse like COVID or flu. The other thing is in
terms of masking. Besides the masking that I do for work,
when I go see patients who may have illnesses, I
(04:54):
will consider wearing masks if it's if I know that
I'm going to give a talk or do something big,
or on a flight, I'm about to go on vacation.
I may try to protect myself a little bit more
if I know the virus season is high, so that
I don't get sick and ruin my own vacation. So
that's kind of how I think about it.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
And it's also important if you're gonna wear the mask,
go for the trouble wear it correctly. I see a
lot of people wearing the mask over their chin, over
their mouth, but their nose is sticking right out there
and they're just sucking in all the viruses, so that
really didn't and or spreading viruses, so they're not really
doing any good, are they right? Right?
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Exactly, So you really want to make sure that it's
over the nose that has a nice tight fit. It
can be behind the ears, or if you do the tie,
that also works as well. Really, what I tell people,
the best mask is a mask that you will wear correctly,
so you know, the higher the degree, and maybe some
of those k and ninety fives that we heard about before,
if you can't breathe through them and you're going to
(05:48):
take them off, they're probably not the best mask for you.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
That's true. And if you're going to be out there
all by yourself, like walking in the park, you don't
really need the mask, do you right?
Speaker 2 (05:57):
No, No, And I would agree with that, Like it's
okay to be out in the public and open and
not wearing a mask. If you are going to a
big party with maybe it's a tiny room and lots
and lots of people and everybody's coughing, maybe you should
wear a mask.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
I just wouldn't go to that party if everyone's coffee.
I gotta tell you. So, you mentioned the idea of
your around people and you go, you know, somebody had
a cough. I think I could be getting sick. How
quickly do you know that you've got something? Is that
within an hour, within a day. How quickly does the
virus replicate and actually you start to show symptoms?
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Yeah, I typically say with flu, it's about anywhere from
four to seven days. With COVID, it's also been around
four days. When we were starting to see some of
those new variants, we would see it as soon as
two days. So it does take a little bit of
time because it has to first you have to get exposed, right,
and then it has to attach to the respiratory cells
in your body, and then it has to replicate and
(06:51):
then cause symptoms. So all of that process takes quite
some time, but on average, all of these are anywhere
from four to seven days.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
I've noticed with a lot of especially colds, the first
symptom I often get is kind of a sore throat,
and I guess that's because I've got some lymph nods
back there they're kind of getting worked up or something
like that.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Yeah, we have a lot of lymph tissue in our
throat and in that backspace, and so they're the ones
that are working hard because they've recognized a foreign pathogen.
They say, hey, this is not okay. Let's get all
these cells in here and try to attack it and
neutralize it. And because of that neutralizing process, we get fever,
we get sore throat, we get all of those fun
symptoms that we relate to having a virus. It's really
(07:30):
our immune system that is just really ramping up and
trying to kill everything that it possibly can.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
So those early symptoms like the fever and the sore throat,
that is your immune system kind of getting fired up
and doing the work. And then the back end symptoms
you get, like say the latent cough or the running
nose for the next week or so, that's almost like
an after effect thing, right, Like your body now, your
body's done the work now is trying to get that stuff.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Out right, right exactly, So what that's our body working
to try to get those immune cells to really neutral
lies the virus and not cause anymore symptoms.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
This is Viewpoint Alabama on the Alabama Radio Network. My
name is John Mounson talking with doctor Rachel Lee from
UAB Hey that rhymes and doctor Lee. What is the
current status of flu and COVID in the state of
Alabama in terms of how do we rank against the
rest of the country.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Yeah, so right now Alabama is ranking as moderate for
the viral illnesses. So up north we're seeing kind of
higher levels. The exception there is flu, so flu is
definitely in that high zone. And if you look at
our waste water, which we are lucky enough to have
some of that data. All three of the viruses are high,
but flu is pretty pretty high right now, So we're
(08:40):
seeing it a lot at UAB in our admissions. That's
probably the highest of the three viruses that we typically
watch out for.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
You mentioned the wastewater, so we're we're testing the wastewater
from I guess the sewer and we're finding out how
much of that is present there.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Yeah, there's a there is a great website that actually
has a lot of that different wastewater information, and so
it looks at things like covid, RSV, flu, even things
like neurovirus, so that's like the stomach bug that you
think about with cruise ships. You can monitor all of
these different pathogens pretty easily in our wastewater, and it
gives us an idea of what's going on the community
(09:14):
that may be spreading. And it's probably more accurate than
us looking at our emergency department numbers because by then
we're seeing kind of the downstream effect of multiple people
having it and then suddenly a person that is maybe
has a weaker immune system has it and then has
to go to the hospital for it.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
And doctor Lee, I wanted to ask you this because
I have the suspicion, but I don't know.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
You have.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Probably the data on this is after we went through
COVID and the you know, there was the injection and
then the booster, and then you had to get reinjected,
and people kind of got a little bit of vaccine.
I would call it like fatigue. And so I suspect
there's a lot of people who said, you know what,
I'm through with vaccines and then and then all of
a sudden flu season, I don't want to get a
flu vaccine. So I'm wondering if vaccine fatigue has actually
(09:57):
caused people to kind of slack on getting their flu vaccinations.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Yeah, definitely. Alabama unfortunately, has struggled a lot with flu vaccines.
We typically are around thirty percent uptake. And I think,
you know, first of all, people think like I got
the flu vaccine and then I got the flu right after.
Well that's probably not what happened. As we talked about earlier,
it's our immune system responding and kind of creating that
BOOSTY typically get sore arm, you may get a fever,
(10:24):
but that goes away pretty quickly. And so I think, yes,
I agree with you. We as we've learned about these
covid vaccines and we realize we need a booster because
it doesn't last very long. It can be like vaccine burnout.
But I do think that you know, it's not it's
never too late to get vaccines, especially right now we're
at the height of flu. But if you haven't had
(10:44):
the flu yet, go ahead and get a vaccine. It's
not it's pretty well tolerated. I got mine, you know,
sore arm, of course, which is what I always get.
But it's definitely worth that than having to go to
the hospital and you know, get admitted and you know,
need medications.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
For it, especially if you're in a high risk group
where you're more susceptible for it to worsen. And another
thing is the flu vaccine is different than the covid
vaccine because I almost a vaccine with a asterisk because
that was an mRNA vaccine, which is different. I don't
want you to get overly technical, but can you kind
of explain how the regular flu vaccine differs from the
(11:19):
what we're getting like the Maderna or Johnson Johnson or
the FIZ or whichever one you got. The vaccines were
getting for covid.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Yeah, so the flu vaccine is like our old school vaccine.
A lot of times it's made in eggs, so we
kind of look and see what is circulating kind of
in the southern hemisphere. We take those, we mark them up,
and then we make proteins out of eggs. Essentially, it's
a slower process. So that's why we see this kind
of delay from the southern hemisphere to the northern hemisphere
(11:50):
to get that vaccine.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
It's even if.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
You have an egg allergy, you can still get this.
My son had an egg allergy as a baby, and
I'd still give them the vaccine and he did fine
with it. With the mRNA vaccine, it's much faster process
because the platform allows you to take that mRNA which
codes for that specific spike protein in covid, and then
(12:13):
your bodies recognizes that spike protein immediately as oh, this
is foreign, we don't like this. Let's make antibodies to that.
And so it's quick because you can create that spike
protein and say, hey, look here's a circulating virus that's
around right now, let's go ahead and make that. It
seems scary, but we get exposed to mRNA all the time,
our body is very very adept at getting rid of
(12:37):
mRNA that is not our own.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
And with the COVID virus you're looking at, they said
that you would still get it, of course, even if
you've had the vaccine, but I guess because your body,
I guess had like advanced warning, it was able to
react faster, and so that's the reason why they said
you'd have a more mild case. You'd still get it,
but it wouldn't be as severe had you not been
vaccinated yet.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Agreed, And a lot of these respiratory vaccines are like
that that you know, you could potentially get it, but
it won't be as severe. So it does reduce your
risk of getting it some but really where the data
is is that it significantly reduces your risk of getting
admitted to the hospital and going to the er and
needing you know, anti viral medicines, all those other things
(13:22):
that we look at.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
What are the you heard about the variance, you know,
there was the there is the delta variant, and then
there's all these different variants. What variant are we on
now with COVID? What's prevalent right now?
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Yeah, so we're still in omicron so it's like a
big tree branch of omicron, and there are a whole
bunch of different circulating viruses right now, and honestly they're
all somewhat similar. They but you know, because it's a
messy process. While how COVID makes makes itself, it's very
messy and it just keeps trying things until it can
(13:54):
kind of escape your immune system. And so it's still
within that omicron spectrum, but it's sometimes it's enough to
escape our immune system and then cause infections.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Again, does it still have the same because I know
the different variants they had different binding domains and so
there was different effects that it would have. Is the
current variant is it as virulent as the earlier ones
or maybe virulent is the wrong word to use. Is
it still as deadly as the other ones? Or is
this one it sticks around longer but it doesn't kill
you as fast or.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Yeah, I think it definitely doesn't cause as much hospitalization
and death anymore. But I think a lot of that
is because we've been exposed to a lot of different
covid since the pandemic began, and we either have our
natural immunity from infection or we have what we call
passive immunity from vaccines, and by building up the strength
of us as a community, that reduces the amount of
(14:46):
kind of circulating virus there and then also kind of
reduces the amount of severity because even though we're exposed
to it, your body says, hey, this looks somewhat familiar.
Let's send these guys out to go destroy this covid
vac or this covid virus that's roaming about right now.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
And doctor Lee, with the regular we're regularly getting these vaccinations,
is there a possibility of your gonna I guess, maybe
make it put it on my level here. You your
immune system runs out of ram, it runs out of
memory or is it like you know, I guess the
B cells whatever? Do you run the risk of your
immune system gets to where it's not as reactive because
you've exposed yourself to so many different vaccinations over the years,
(15:23):
or is it kind of endless?
Speaker 2 (15:25):
So I think there was that concern right that like,
if you get exposed to too many vaccines, your own
natural immune system is not going to respond. That has
not been the case. What they have seen is that
you know, the vaccine, they've measure those antibodies and then
it kind of goes down after a period of time
ninety days, six months or so, and then when you
boost it again, then your body responds right back up
(15:46):
to where it was again. So it's not like our
body doesn't respond to the vaccines. It's just unfortunate that
it seems like it doesn't stick around as much as
we want it to. And what we see with that
clinically is that people who are over sixty five, who
have a lot of comorbidity, they are at risk then
for getting hospitalized from COVID, and that's what we want
to try to prevent. You may be myself who doesn't
(16:08):
have very many medical problems. When I get COVID, I
feel crummy, but I stay home and then go back
to work once I'm feeling better. That's different than say,
you know, someone like my parents, who you know are
slightly older, and I don't want anything bad to happen
to them.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
So bottom line is it's a personal choice, but you're
advising that for most people, the choice station strongly consider
is staying up to date with vaccinations, both the flu
and for COVID. Should people get if they go to
the doctor or I guess it'd be the pharmacist to
get their vaccinations. Should they get them at the same time,
or is there a problem with getting like one in
the left arm one on the right arm.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
There is no problem whatsoever with getting the shots at
the same time, except you may have sore arm in both.
But for the most part, people do really well with that.
It's not gonna make your immune system respond less. I
think they've looked and seen if people have more somevictims
after that, and it hasn't shown to be the case.
I think once your immune systems revved up from ready
(17:05):
to make antibodies, is just going to be the same response.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
So bottom line, you probably would do different arms though,
because you don't want because the injections I can get
sourced and no point in you know, putting in the
same muscle right right exactly.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Although you know, when I went to India and I
had to get those vaccines before then, I got two
in both arms, so four totals, which was a lot,
so I was definitely pretty sore after that.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
So bottom line, get your vaccines and stay away from India.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
It sounds no I recommend highly going to India if
you want to, but go to travel clinic beforehand to
make sure you're up to date on vaccine.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
Doctor Rachel Lee. She's the Associate professor with the Division
of Infectious Diseases at uab's Hearcing School of Medicine. Thank
you so much for joining us this week on Viewpoint, Alabama.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Thank you, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Hi.
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(18:09):
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Speaker 1 (18:47):
VICKI, how you doing.
Speaker 5 (18:49):
How's the need?
Speaker 6 (18:50):
It's coming along, doctor, But still some soreness.
Speaker 5 (18:53):
Well let's see you know this soon after surgery, some
pain is pretty normal.
Speaker 6 (18:57):
I was hoping to get more pain killers. The first
round worked great. We're being very careful with those now.
Prescription painkillers are opioids, same as heroin. It's easy to
start taking them, not so easy to stop.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Last year in America, an average of forty people died
from opioid abuse every day. Long term addiction has become
America's newest health epidemic.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
So no pills, Vicky.
Speaker 5 (19:21):
You're doing great, so let's try these anti inflammatories plus
your physical therapy. If the soreness doesn't continue to get better,
give me a call for opioids.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
The smaller the dose prescribed and taken, the better, because
even a few prescription painkillers can sometimes go a long
wrong way. A message from the American Academy of Orthopedic
Surgeons and the Orthopedic Trauma Association. Visit orthoinfo dot org
slash prescription safety.
Speaker 7 (19:47):
I am incredibly, incredibly proud to be a physician here
at Saint Jude, to be in a place where I
know my patients are going to get the top notch care,
not only care, but also research happening twenty four hours
a day, seven days a week. Every single person that
can try as a part of that Saint ju family
that makes that happen. Because of everyone that is really
committed to the mission of Saint Jude, We're giving families.
Speaker 6 (20:07):
Hope, Saint Jude Children's Research Hospital, finding cures, saving children.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Learn more at Saint Jude dot org. The food supply
chain disruptions of an under COVID nineteen further revealed our
need for a new approach to America's food system. Significant
investments in food systems are spurring those needed changes and
are set to create opportunities and long term improvements for
(20:35):
both consumers and producers. In twenty twenty five and beyond,
Hello and welcome to Viewpoint, Alabama. I'm John Mountain. Joining
me now is Under Secretary Jenny Moffatt to speak with
us about how the USDA programs are addressing each one
of these steps of the supply chain production, processing, aggregation, distribution,
as well as both markets and consumers to create a
stronger and more resilient food system. In America. Jenny, Welcome
(20:57):
to Viewpoint.
Speaker 8 (20:58):
Thanks so much for having me on. John.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
If you were to ask a ten year old, where
does the food in our table? Where does it come from?
They'd probably say the grocery store. Many adults would probably
say about the same thing. A lot of people don't
understand just how fragile our food supply chain is. Jenny,
walk us through the process and how easily it is
that it could break down.
Speaker 6 (21:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (21:19):
Absolutely, our fruit supply chain is an incredibly sophisticated in advance.
And you know, certainly our fruit supply chain starts with
America's farmers and ranchers producing the fruits, vegetables, meat and poultry,
dairy products that we all enjoy, as you said that
(21:39):
wl enjoy, whether we get it from the grocery store,
from restaurants, from food banks, from our school meal program,
all of that comes and starts on the farm who
are in the farmers and ranchers are really the backborn
of our food economy. That product then, of course gets
processed it it is further value added as far as
(22:01):
you know, maybe it's processed for me and poultry, it
is turned into the stakes that we enjoy or the
milk that we're enjoying, so it gooes to typically a
processor that then processes that product, and then that food
is then distributed to food different places grocery stores, restaurants.
(22:22):
But that distribution channel is also a really important part.
And if we have more consolidation in the food businesses,
so fewer food businesses that are doing that processing, fewer
food businesses that are doing that distribution, fewer food businesses
that are selling product at grocery stores and what have you.
(22:42):
Then when there is a disruption in the supply chain,
it affects us more greatly. So if we have more
food businesses, more processing opportunities, more processing capacity, not only
do we as consumers be able to enjoy food of
course year round, but then also farmers and ranchers are
(23:03):
able to be able to sell their products to different
places as well. So if their processor has a disruption
of some sort, they can pivot and they can turn
and they can sell their product to someone else in
the time being. And that is I think a really
important part and a really cool core piece of what
we've been doing in our investments to transform the food system.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
So talk with me a little bit, if you could,
about the USDA, and what the USDA does in terms
of ensuring that we have quality food available to us,
that we can trust that the food is not tainted,
not spoiled, and not otherwise, you know, hurt by some
of the outside forces that could affect the food chain.
Speaker 6 (23:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (23:43):
Absolutely, so we do a number of different things at USDA.
USDA is is what commonly known as and what Abraham
Lincoln called the People's Department, because at the time it
was established, most people were farmers and ranchers. That's not
the case anymore. We have, of course a much more
(24:04):
sophisticated food supply chain, and so as a result, USA
really does a bunch of different things. We are and
we support producers who do collective marketing. We also support
and invest in local and regional food supply chains. We
have the Food Safety Inspection Services at USCA that is
(24:25):
overseeing meat and egg safety as far as food safety
is concerned. And then we also have the Animal Plant
Health Inspection Services, which is of course also making sure
that animals and plants are healthy and don't have diseases
and so that we can continue to grow and raise
a great food that we do have here. But the
(24:46):
investments that we have been making. We have, at the
beginning of the Biden Harris administration, Congress paths the American
Rescue Plan with four billion dollars to transform the food system.
Really coming out of the COVID panandemic and realizing that
we needed to make a change in our food system.
These investments have been really important to expand infrastructure across
(25:09):
the nation, whether that is meaning poultry processing infrastructure, very
processing infrastructure, specialty crops like fruits and vegetables, and net
processing infrastructure, so that we have a much more diverse
and more competitive food supply chain.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
Jenny, we talked a little bit about the domestic food production.
How much of the food that we consume here in
America comes from other countries.
Speaker 8 (25:32):
Oh, that's a good question. It really does depend on
the type of food. We have been importing a lot
more of fruits and vegetables, more of our our fresh
products from other countries than we had before. I think
a lot of that is driven by demands for consumers
who are looking for strawberries year round, for example. We
(25:56):
also are really growing and increasing the production that we
have across the country, whether that is our own domestic
supply of fruits and vegetables, or our own domestic supply
of meat and poultry we grow, We grow enough here,
and we are actually exporting a lot of our own
products to other countries. That I think is really important
(26:19):
for producers. It gets back to getting and making sure
that farmers and ranchers, who are the backbone of our
food supply chain have different market opportunities. Whether they're selling
to their local school, whether they're selling to a distributor
across the country, or whether they're selling into export markets.
All of those different value chains are really important for
(26:42):
producers to be able to see opportunity to grow their business,
hire more people, and create jobs in their communities.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
And Jenny, these foods and that are produced in other
countries that are brought here to America, are they inspected
to the same standards as food that is grown domestically.
Speaker 8 (27:01):
Yeah, so if the food is being inspected to certain
standards we have we do require those same standards. So
we have inspectors at different ports of entry who are
making sure that the blueberries, for example, or the groups
that are coming in meet the same quality standards at
the same time of the year as a product that
(27:21):
is coming on the domestic market.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
Jenny. One more question. With the incoming Trump administration, there's
been a lot of talk about RFK Junior possibly receiving
the nomination for Health and Human Services Director, and one
of his big issues is encouraging more consumption of natural
or not overprocessed food. Will this play a big role
in the USDA's policies in the coming years.
Speaker 8 (27:42):
I think that's really a conversation that we'll be had
of with the next administration of the role. But I
think what's really important and the work that we've been
doing here at USDA is really increasing the availability and
the opportunity for farmers who are producing food for consumers
to be able to get access to the food that
(28:02):
they need. Some of the programs that we've had, and
actually I've been able to travel to Alabama a couple
times and to participate in some of the programs that
Alabama has been able to implement under our Food System
Transformation Framework really about bringing local food from farmers and
(28:24):
ranchers into schools, and I think that's been really neat
to see, and we were able to visit a school
a bunch of different farmers and ranchers who are starting
to sell to the school, and the state of Alabama
was creating an aggregation facility so that farmers bring their
product to one place and then that product then gets
distributed to schools, really overcoming some of those supply chain
(28:46):
issues that can happen selling those schools. And it was
amazing to me to hear from farmers who had lost
markets that they've been selling to in the pandemic to
be able to replace those markets with local markets for schools,
and then at the same time that school was able
to process and create fresh, locally produced foods and get
(29:07):
it to the kids, and so they were able to
eat healthy, locally produced foods in their schools. So programs
like that are really important to really just not only
drive demand of local products, but also make delicious and
healthy food available to everyone.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
And that is so important. They always say you are
what you eat, So I guess eat local Alabama. It's
good for you and it's good for our economy. USDA
Undersecretary Jenny Moffatt, thank you so much for joining us
today on Viewpoint Alabama.
Speaker 6 (29:33):
NYE.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
Jenny, I'm John Mount and this is Viewpoint Alabama on
the Alabama Radio Network.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
You've been listening to Viewpoint Alabama, a public affairs program
from the Alabama Radio Network.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
The opinions expressed on Viewpoint Alabama are not necessarily those
of the staff, management, or advertisers of this station.
The new year brought more than just resolutions. Flu cases
are on the rise here in Alabama following the winter
holiday gathering. Hello, I'm John Mounts and this is Viewpoint
Alabama on the Alabama Radio Network, and I'm always glad
to have doctor Rachel Lee, an associate professor with the
Division of Infectious Diseases at uab's hear Sing School of Medicine,
back in our studios. Doctor Lee, Welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Welcome, thank you, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
So every it happens almost every year where we travel.
I know I do. I go out of state. I
go see family members from like three other states, all
packed into a very small room in a very small house,
and we're all sitting there talking in close proximity. And
then we share and share alike, and we bring back
our viruses to our home state. And then we meet
with our friends and coworkers after the holidays, and now,
(00:49):
big surprise, everybody's got a cold, everyone's got the flu.
So what did we do wrong?
Speaker 2 (00:54):
I don't think it's necessarily things that you did wrong.
It's just unfortunately that time of year, we do see
a lot of respiratory viruses. Sometimes people have virus and
they may not be showing symptoms yet. So while you
may be happy and loving on one another during your
holiday season, well then unfortunately what also comes besides hugs
are respiratory viruses. So we do have a few things
(01:16):
that we can do to try to protect ourselves and
protect our loved ones. First and foremost, of course, you know,
if you are not feeling well, we don't want you
to go and hang.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Out with people.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
You really need to stay home, try to get better,
drink lots of fluids. And then if you are feeling
fine but are seeing other people wash your hands, you
can also consider wearing masks. And then of course we
have vaccines. Really, prevention is key during this respiratory viral season,
so we try to protect ourselves as much as we can.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
So we're talking respiratory viruses like COVID, like RSV, like
any of these things. A lot of the same things
that were drilled into our heads during COVID are still
very much in practice now, right You mentioned washing your hands,
and washing your hands is it's more than just running
water over your hands for fifteen seconds and just making
it look like you know, so that everyone else in
the bathrooms go oh, yeah, he washed his hands. You
(02:05):
want to do a thorough job, right, right, right.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
I mean they've looked at those studies to see how
well people wash their hands, and unfortunately we don't wash
our hands as well as we'd like to think that
we do. So really, you want to really lather up,
get those bubbles, get it in between your fingers, get
it around the bottom or the palms of your hands,
as well as the back of your hands. Typically, I
say to sing Happy Birthday twice is about the amount
of time that you can do that for washing your hands.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Depending on how fast you sing.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Yes, yeah, I mean if it's going like in five seconds,
maybe you should sing that four times.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Then well. And you know, I was thinking about this
because a lot of bathrooms they have this soap that's
that foamy's kind of soap and you squirre it on
your hands, and I guess the best practice is actually
kind of spread that around first and then rinse, because otherwise,
if you run the water right away, you just rinsed
all the soap off. You didn't actually get any soap really.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Right, right, And what I typically tell patients is that
you want your hands wet, You want to try to
create a detergent, which is what the soap does. It
goes in there and it breaks open the cells of
the virus so that they can't live anymore. So in
order to do that, it has to be wet, and
then you have to have that lather, so I may
get my hands wet first, then get the soap. You
really try to conserve as much water as you can
so you can turn that off while you're singing your
(03:11):
happy Birthday songs.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
And soap's kind of an amazing molecule because it lowers
service tensions, so it allows penetration, so it's more than
just water. That's why we add the soap in addition
to just the water.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Right right exactly. The other thing that we have is
alcohol based hand rub so those work just as well
unless your hands are grimy and dirty, that's when I
recommend soap. But you know, kind of throughout the day,
you can use that alcohol based hand sanitizer. They come
in small containers and you can carry them in your
purse or in your bag, so that's also another option
to keep your hands clean throughout the holiday season.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Although if you use those, you should probably follow with
some lotion because this time of year, your hands get
very dry when you use that stuff.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Oh, yes, definitely, I'm feeling it now, that's for sure.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Now.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Another thing that we saw that was very popular during COVID,
I want to say popular, but you saw a lot
more of it during COVID was the masking. And masking
has gone by the wayside, and a lot of us
are very happy about that. But at the same time,
there are times when a mask is a good idea.
Can you talk about that?
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Yeah, you know, I think masking can be a very
difficult topic because we connect it so much to that pandemic,
and we live through a pandemic. So we have to
praise ourselves for that because we've learned a lot through that.
One of those things that we realize is that wearing
a mask is incredibly helpful, especially if you are the
one that's sick. It really does contain your virus and
(04:30):
not spread it to one another. So if you are
not feeling well, you kind of don't know what's going on,
just yet, get a mask, wear it, and then probably
in the next few hours you'll know if this is
more of the allergies that you may see or something
worse like COVID or flu. The other thing is in
terms of masking. Besides the masking that I do for work,
when I go see patients who may have illnesses, I
(04:54):
will consider wearing masks if it's if I know that
I'm going to give a talk or do something big,
or on a flight, I'm about to go on vacation.
I may try to protect myself a little bit more
if I know the virus season is high, so that
I don't get sick and ruin my own vacation. So
that's kind of how I think about it.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
And it's also important if you're gonna wear the mask,
go for the trouble wear it correctly. I see a
lot of people wearing the mask over their chin, over
their mouth, but their nose is sticking right out there
and they're just sucking in all the viruses, so that
really didn't and or spreading viruses, so they're not really
doing any good, are they right? Right?
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Exactly, So you really want to make sure that it's
over the nose that has a nice tight fit. It
can be behind the ears, or if you do the tie,
that also works as well. Really, what I tell people,
the best mask is a mask that you will wear correctly,
so you know, the higher the degree, and maybe some
of those k and ninety fives that we heard about before,
if you can't breathe through them and you're going to
(05:48):
take them off, they're probably not the best mask for you.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
That's true. And if you're going to be out there
all by yourself, like walking in the park, you don't
really need the mask, do you right?
Speaker 2 (05:57):
No, No, And I would agree with that, Like it's
okay to be out in the public and open and
not wearing a mask. If you are going to a
big party with maybe it's a tiny room and lots
and lots of people and everybody's coughing, maybe you should
wear a mask.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
I just wouldn't go to that party if everyone's coffee.
I gotta tell you. So, you mentioned the idea of
your around people and you go, you know, somebody had
a cough. I think I could be getting sick. How
quickly do you know that you've got something? Is that
within an hour, within a day. How quickly does the
virus replicate and actually you start to show symptoms?
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Yeah, I typically say with flu, it's about anywhere from
four to seven days. With COVID, it's also been around
four days. When we were starting to see some of
those new variants, we would see it as soon as
two days. So it does take a little bit of
time because it has to first you have to get exposed, right,
and then it has to attach to the respiratory cells
in your body, and then it has to replicate and
(06:51):
then cause symptoms. So all of that process takes quite
some time, but on average, all of these are anywhere
from four to seven days.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
I've noticed with a lot of especially colds, the first
symptom I often get is kind of a sore throat,
and I guess that's because I've got some lymph nods
back there they're kind of getting worked up or something
like that.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Yeah, we have a lot of lymph tissue in our
throat and in that backspace, and so they're the ones
that are working hard because they've recognized a foreign pathogen.
They say, hey, this is not okay. Let's get all
these cells in here and try to attack it and
neutralize it. And because of that neutralizing process, we get fever,
we get sore throat, we get all of those fun
symptoms that we relate to having a virus. It's really
(07:30):
our immune system that is just really ramping up and
trying to kill everything that it possibly can.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
So those early symptoms like the fever and the sore throat,
that is your immune system kind of getting fired up
and doing the work. And then the back end symptoms
you get, like say the latent cough or the running
nose for the next week or so, that's almost like
an after effect thing, right, Like your body now, your
body's done the work now is trying to get that stuff.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Out right, right exactly, So what that's our body working
to try to get those immune cells to really neutral
lies the virus and not cause anymore symptoms.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
This is Viewpoint Alabama on the Alabama Radio Network. My
name is John Mounson talking with doctor Rachel Lee from
UAB Hey that rhymes and doctor Lee. What is the
current status of flu and COVID in the state of
Alabama in terms of how do we rank against the
rest of the country.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Yeah, so right now Alabama is ranking as moderate for
the viral illnesses. So up north we're seeing kind of
higher levels. The exception there is flu, so flu is
definitely in that high zone. And if you look at
our waste water, which we are lucky enough to have
some of that data. All three of the viruses are high,
but flu is pretty pretty high right now, So we're
(08:40):
seeing it a lot at UAB in our admissions. That's
probably the highest of the three viruses that we typically
watch out for.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
You mentioned the wastewater, so we're we're testing the wastewater
from I guess the sewer and we're finding out how
much of that is present there.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Yeah, there's a there is a great website that actually
has a lot of that different wastewater information, and so
it looks at things like covid, RSV, flu, even things
like neurovirus, so that's like the stomach bug that you
think about with cruise ships. You can monitor all of
these different pathogens pretty easily in our wastewater, and it
gives us an idea of what's going on the community
(09:14):
that may be spreading. And it's probably more accurate than
us looking at our emergency department numbers because by then
we're seeing kind of the downstream effect of multiple people
having it and then suddenly a person that is maybe
has a weaker immune system has it and then has
to go to the hospital for it.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
And doctor Lee, I wanted to ask you this because
I have the suspicion, but I don't know.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
You have.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Probably the data on this is after we went through
COVID and the you know, there was the injection and
then the booster, and then you had to get reinjected,
and people kind of got a little bit of vaccine.
I would call it like fatigue. And so I suspect
there's a lot of people who said, you know what,
I'm through with vaccines and then and then all of
a sudden flu season, I don't want to get a
flu vaccine. So I'm wondering if vaccine fatigue has actually
(09:57):
caused people to kind of slack on getting their flu vaccinations.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Yeah, definitely. Alabama unfortunately, has struggled a lot with flu vaccines.
We typically are around thirty percent uptake. And I think,
you know, first of all, people think like I got
the flu vaccine and then I got the flu right after.
Well that's probably not what happened. As we talked about earlier,
it's our immune system responding and kind of creating that
BOOSTY typically get sore arm, you may get a fever,
(10:24):
but that goes away pretty quickly. And so I think, yes,
I agree with you. We as we've learned about these
covid vaccines and we realize we need a booster because
it doesn't last very long. It can be like vaccine burnout.
But I do think that you know, it's not it's
never too late to get vaccines, especially right now we're
at the height of flu. But if you haven't had
(10:44):
the flu yet, go ahead and get a vaccine. It's
not it's pretty well tolerated. I got mine, you know,
sore arm, of course, which is what I always get.
But it's definitely worth that than having to go to
the hospital and you know, get admitted and you know,
need medications.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
For it, especially if you're in a high risk group
where you're more susceptible for it to worsen. And another
thing is the flu vaccine is different than the covid
vaccine because I almost a vaccine with a asterisk because
that was an mRNA vaccine, which is different. I don't
want you to get overly technical, but can you kind
of explain how the regular flu vaccine differs from the
(11:19):
what we're getting like the Maderna or Johnson Johnson or
the FIZ or whichever one you got. The vaccines were
getting for covid.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Yeah, so the flu vaccine is like our old school vaccine.
A lot of times it's made in eggs, so we
kind of look and see what is circulating kind of
in the southern hemisphere. We take those, we mark them up,
and then we make proteins out of eggs. Essentially, it's
a slower process. So that's why we see this kind
of delay from the southern hemisphere to the northern hemisphere
(11:50):
to get that vaccine.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
It's even if.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
You have an egg allergy, you can still get this.
My son had an egg allergy as a baby, and
I'd still give them the vaccine and he did fine
with it. With the mRNA vaccine, it's much faster process
because the platform allows you to take that mRNA which
codes for that specific spike protein in covid, and then
(12:13):
your bodies recognizes that spike protein immediately as oh, this
is foreign, we don't like this. Let's make antibodies to that.
And so it's quick because you can create that spike
protein and say, hey, look here's a circulating virus that's
around right now, let's go ahead and make that. It
seems scary, but we get exposed to mRNA all the time,
our body is very very adept at getting rid of
(12:37):
mRNA that is not our own.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
And with the COVID virus you're looking at, they said
that you would still get it, of course, even if
you've had the vaccine, but I guess because your body,
I guess had like advanced warning, it was able to
react faster, and so that's the reason why they said
you'd have a more mild case. You'd still get it,
but it wouldn't be as severe had you not been
vaccinated yet.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Agreed, And a lot of these respiratory vaccines are like
that that you know, you could potentially get it, but
it won't be as severe. So it does reduce your
risk of getting it some but really where the data
is is that it significantly reduces your risk of getting
admitted to the hospital and going to the er and
needing you know, anti viral medicines, all those other things
(13:22):
that we look at.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
What are the you heard about the variance, you know,
there was the there is the delta variant, and then
there's all these different variants. What variant are we on
now with COVID? What's prevalent right now?
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Yeah, so we're still in omicron so it's like a
big tree branch of omicron, and there are a whole
bunch of different circulating viruses right now, and honestly they're
all somewhat similar. They but you know, because it's a
messy process. While how COVID makes makes itself, it's very
messy and it just keeps trying things until it can
(13:54):
kind of escape your immune system. And so it's still
within that omicron spectrum, but it's sometimes it's enough to
escape our immune system and then cause infections.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Again, does it still have the same because I know
the different variants they had different binding domains and so
there was different effects that it would have. Is the
current variant is it as virulent as the earlier ones
or maybe virulent is the wrong word to use. Is
it still as deadly as the other ones? Or is
this one it sticks around longer but it doesn't kill
you as fast or.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Yeah, I think it definitely doesn't cause as much hospitalization
and death anymore. But I think a lot of that
is because we've been exposed to a lot of different
covid since the pandemic began, and we either have our
natural immunity from infection or we have what we call
passive immunity from vaccines, and by building up the strength
of us as a community, that reduces the amount of
(14:46):
kind of circulating virus there and then also kind of
reduces the amount of severity because even though we're exposed
to it, your body says, hey, this looks somewhat familiar.
Let's send these guys out to go destroy this covid
vac or this covid virus that's roaming about right now.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
And doctor Lee, with the regular we're regularly getting these vaccinations,
is there a possibility of your gonna I guess, maybe
make it put it on my level here. You your
immune system runs out of ram, it runs out of
memory or is it like you know, I guess the
B cells whatever? Do you run the risk of your
immune system gets to where it's not as reactive because
you've exposed yourself to so many different vaccinations over the years,
(15:23):
or is it kind of endless?
Speaker 2 (15:25):
So I think there was that concern right that like,
if you get exposed to too many vaccines, your own
natural immune system is not going to respond. That has
not been the case. What they have seen is that
you know, the vaccine, they've measure those antibodies and then
it kind of goes down after a period of time
ninety days, six months or so, and then when you
boost it again, then your body responds right back up
(15:46):
to where it was again. So it's not like our
body doesn't respond to the vaccines. It's just unfortunate that
it seems like it doesn't stick around as much as
we want it to. And what we see with that
clinically is that people who are over sixty five, who
have a lot of comorbidity, they are at risk then
for getting hospitalized from COVID, and that's what we want
to try to prevent. You may be myself who doesn't
(16:08):
have very many medical problems. When I get COVID, I
feel crummy, but I stay home and then go back
to work once I'm feeling better. That's different than say,
you know, someone like my parents, who you know are
slightly older, and I don't want anything bad to happen
to them.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
So bottom line is it's a personal choice, but you're
advising that for most people, the choice station strongly consider
is staying up to date with vaccinations, both the flu
and for COVID. Should people get if they go to
the doctor or I guess it'd be the pharmacist to
get their vaccinations. Should they get them at the same time,
or is there a problem with getting like one in
the left arm one on the right arm.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
There is no problem whatsoever with getting the shots at
the same time, except you may have sore arm in both.
But for the most part, people do really well with that.
It's not gonna make your immune system respond less. I
think they've looked and seen if people have more somevictims
after that, and it hasn't shown to be the case.
I think once your immune systems revved up from ready
(17:05):
to make antibodies, is just going to be the same response.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
So bottom line, you probably would do different arms though,
because you don't want because the injections I can get
sourced and no point in you know, putting in the
same muscle right right exactly.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Although you know, when I went to India and I
had to get those vaccines before then, I got two
in both arms, so four totals, which was a lot,
so I was definitely pretty sore after that.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
So bottom line, get your vaccines and stay away from India.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
It sounds no I recommend highly going to India if
you want to, but go to travel clinic beforehand to
make sure you're up to date on vaccine.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
Doctor Rachel Lee. She's the Associate professor with the Division
of Infectious Diseases at uab's Hearcing School of Medicine. Thank
you so much for joining us this week on Viewpoint, Alabama.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Thank you, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Hi.
Speaker 4 (17:47):
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(18:09):
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(18:33):
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Speaker 1 (18:47):
VICKI, how you doing.
Speaker 5 (18:49):
How's the need?
Speaker 6 (18:50):
It's coming along, doctor, But still some soreness.
Speaker 5 (18:53):
Well let's see you know this soon after surgery, some
pain is pretty normal.
Speaker 6 (18:57):
I was hoping to get more pain killers. The first
round worked great. We're being very careful with those now.
Prescription painkillers are opioids, same as heroin. It's easy to
start taking them, not so easy to stop.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Last year in America, an average of forty people died
from opioid abuse every day. Long term addiction has become
America's newest health epidemic.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
So no pills, Vicky.
Speaker 5 (19:21):
You're doing great, so let's try these anti inflammatories plus
your physical therapy. If the soreness doesn't continue to get better,
give me a call for opioids.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
The smaller the dose prescribed and taken, the better, because
even a few prescription painkillers can sometimes go a long
wrong way. A message from the American Academy of Orthopedic
Surgeons and the Orthopedic Trauma Association. Visit orthoinfo dot org
slash prescription safety.
Speaker 7 (19:47):
I am incredibly, incredibly proud to be a physician here
at Saint Jude, to be in a place where I
know my patients are going to get the top notch care,
not only care, but also research happening twenty four hours
a day, seven days a week. Every single person that
can try as a part of that Saint ju family
that makes that happen. Because of everyone that is really
committed to the mission of Saint Jude, We're giving families.
Speaker 6 (20:07):
Hope, Saint Jude Children's Research Hospital, finding cures, saving children.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Learn more at Saint Jude dot org. The food supply
chain disruptions of an under COVID nineteen further revealed our
need for a new approach to America's food system. Significant
investments in food systems are spurring those needed changes and
are set to create opportunities and long term improvements for
(20:35):
both consumers and producers. In twenty twenty five and beyond,
Hello and welcome to Viewpoint, Alabama. I'm John Mountain. Joining
me now is Under Secretary Jenny Moffatt to speak with
us about how the USDA programs are addressing each one
of these steps of the supply chain production, processing, aggregation, distribution,
as well as both markets and consumers to create a
stronger and more resilient food system. In America. Jenny, Welcome
(20:57):
to Viewpoint.
Speaker 8 (20:58):
Thanks so much for having me on. John.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
If you were to ask a ten year old, where
does the food in our table? Where does it come from?
They'd probably say the grocery store. Many adults would probably
say about the same thing. A lot of people don't
understand just how fragile our food supply chain is. Jenny,
walk us through the process and how easily it is
that it could break down.
Speaker 6 (21:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (21:19):
Absolutely, our fruit supply chain is an incredibly sophisticated in advance.
And you know, certainly our fruit supply chain starts with
America's farmers and ranchers producing the fruits, vegetables, meat and poultry,
dairy products that we all enjoy, as you said that
(21:39):
wl enjoy, whether we get it from the grocery store,
from restaurants, from food banks, from our school meal program,
all of that comes and starts on the farm who
are in the farmers and ranchers are really the backborn
of our food economy. That product then, of course gets
processed it it is further value added as far as
(22:01):
you know, maybe it's processed for me and poultry, it
is turned into the stakes that we enjoy or the
milk that we're enjoying, so it gooes to typically a
processor that then processes that product, and then that food
is then distributed to food different places grocery stores, restaurants.
(22:22):
But that distribution channel is also a really important part.
And if we have more consolidation in the food businesses,
so fewer food businesses that are doing that processing, fewer
food businesses that are doing that distribution, fewer food businesses
that are selling product at grocery stores and what have you.
(22:42):
Then when there is a disruption in the supply chain,
it affects us more greatly. So if we have more
food businesses, more processing opportunities, more processing capacity, not only
do we as consumers be able to enjoy food of
course year round, but then also farmers and ranchers are
(23:03):
able to be able to sell their products to different
places as well. So if their processor has a disruption
of some sort, they can pivot and they can turn
and they can sell their product to someone else in
the time being. And that is I think a really
important part and a really cool core piece of what
we've been doing in our investments to transform the food system.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
So talk with me a little bit, if you could,
about the USDA, and what the USDA does in terms
of ensuring that we have quality food available to us,
that we can trust that the food is not tainted,
not spoiled, and not otherwise, you know, hurt by some
of the outside forces that could affect the food chain.
Speaker 6 (23:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (23:43):
Absolutely, so we do a number of different things at USDA.
USDA is is what commonly known as and what Abraham
Lincoln called the People's Department, because at the time it
was established, most people were farmers and ranchers. That's not
the case anymore. We have, of course a much more
(24:04):
sophisticated food supply chain, and so as a result, USA
really does a bunch of different things. We are and
we support producers who do collective marketing. We also support
and invest in local and regional food supply chains. We
have the Food Safety Inspection Services at USCA that is
(24:25):
overseeing meat and egg safety as far as food safety
is concerned. And then we also have the Animal Plant
Health Inspection Services, which is of course also making sure
that animals and plants are healthy and don't have diseases
and so that we can continue to grow and raise
a great food that we do have here. But the
(24:46):
investments that we have been making. We have, at the
beginning of the Biden Harris administration, Congress paths the American
Rescue Plan with four billion dollars to transform the food system.
Really coming out of the COVID panandemic and realizing that
we needed to make a change in our food system.
These investments have been really important to expand infrastructure across
(25:09):
the nation, whether that is meaning poultry processing infrastructure, very
processing infrastructure, specialty crops like fruits and vegetables, and net
processing infrastructure, so that we have a much more diverse
and more competitive food supply chain.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
Jenny, we talked a little bit about the domestic food production.
How much of the food that we consume here in
America comes from other countries.
Speaker 8 (25:32):
Oh, that's a good question. It really does depend on
the type of food. We have been importing a lot
more of fruits and vegetables, more of our our fresh
products from other countries than we had before. I think
a lot of that is driven by demands for consumers
who are looking for strawberries year round, for example. We
(25:56):
also are really growing and increasing the production that we
have across the country, whether that is our own domestic
supply of fruits and vegetables, or our own domestic supply
of meat and poultry we grow, We grow enough here,
and we are actually exporting a lot of our own
products to other countries. That I think is really important
(26:19):
for producers. It gets back to getting and making sure
that farmers and ranchers, who are the backbone of our
food supply chain have different market opportunities. Whether they're selling
to their local school, whether they're selling to a distributor
across the country, or whether they're selling into export markets.
All of those different value chains are really important for
(26:42):
producers to be able to see opportunity to grow their business,
hire more people, and create jobs in their communities.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
And Jenny, these foods and that are produced in other
countries that are brought here to America, are they inspected
to the same standards as food that is grown domestically.
Speaker 8 (27:01):
Yeah, so if the food is being inspected to certain
standards we have we do require those same standards. So
we have inspectors at different ports of entry who are
making sure that the blueberries, for example, or the groups
that are coming in meet the same quality standards at
the same time of the year as a product that
(27:21):
is coming on the domestic market.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
Jenny. One more question. With the incoming Trump administration, there's
been a lot of talk about RFK Junior possibly receiving
the nomination for Health and Human Services Director, and one
of his big issues is encouraging more consumption of natural
or not overprocessed food. Will this play a big role
in the USDA's policies in the coming years.
Speaker 8 (27:42):
I think that's really a conversation that we'll be had
of with the next administration of the role. But I
think what's really important and the work that we've been
doing here at USDA is really increasing the availability and
the opportunity for farmers who are producing food for consumers
to be able to get access to the food that
(28:02):
they need. Some of the programs that we've had, and
actually I've been able to travel to Alabama a couple
times and to participate in some of the programs that
Alabama has been able to implement under our Food System
Transformation Framework really about bringing local food from farmers and
(28:24):
ranchers into schools, and I think that's been really neat
to see, and we were able to visit a school
a bunch of different farmers and ranchers who are starting
to sell to the school, and the state of Alabama
was creating an aggregation facility so that farmers bring their
product to one place and then that product then gets
distributed to schools, really overcoming some of those supply chain
(28:46):
issues that can happen selling those schools. And it was
amazing to me to hear from farmers who had lost
markets that they've been selling to in the pandemic to
be able to replace those markets with local markets for schools,
and then at the same time that school was able
to process and create fresh, locally produced foods and get
(29:07):
it to the kids, and so they were able to
eat healthy, locally produced foods in their schools. So programs
like that are really important to really just not only
drive demand of local products, but also make delicious and
healthy food available to everyone.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
And that is so important. They always say you are
what you eat, So I guess eat local Alabama. It's
good for you and it's good for our economy. USDA
Undersecretary Jenny Moffatt, thank you so much for joining us
today on Viewpoint Alabama.
Speaker 6 (29:33):
NYE.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
Jenny, I'm John Mount and this is Viewpoint Alabama on
the Alabama Radio Network.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
You've been listening to Viewpoint Alabama, a public affairs program
from the Alabama Radio Network.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
The opinions expressed on Viewpoint Alabama are not necessarily those
of the staff, management, or advertisers of this station.
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