The basic purpose of the USDA is to keep US Agriculture as a sustained business, so that the US has continued access to locally grown food resources. The USDA

The basic purpose of the USDA is to keep US Agriculture as a sustained business, so that the US has continued access to locally grown food resources. The USDA sets our basic dietary standards, and sets the standards for school meals. The primary purpose of standards for school meals is to ensure agriculture has a market for its products and a secondary purpose of feeding children. The USDA also runs SNAP, commonly known as food stamps, which provides a market for agricultural products as a primary purpose and a secondary purpose of feeding families. If the primary purpose of these things was health, they would come out of the department of Health and Human Services, possibly from its Food and Drug Agency.