Under the guise of "food safety," USA Today called for stricter regulation and more labeling of foreign food.
A sidebar to the newspaper's cover story on July 11, cited two left-wing food police groups supportive of more country-of-origin-labeling (COOL), but buried opposition until the last paragraphs.
"Will knowing where food comes from make it safer?" asked USA Today's Elizabeth Weise before quoting a spokeswoman from the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) and pro-regulation nutritionist Marion Nestle.
CSPI is the same group that recently threatened to sue Kellogg's for marketing "sugary" cereal to children and has attacked nearly every food and drink you can think of.
Comments from the Grocery Manufacturers Association that mentioned the expense of more regulation were placed in the last two paragraphs.
Weise also didn't question the assumption that U.S. food isn't safe enough. But the Center for Disease Control estimates that there are 5,000 deaths per year from foodborne illness -- a very small percentage of the overall U.S. population of more than 300 million.
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Leave us alone.Just leave us
July 11, 2007 - 18:41 ET by bigtimerLeave us alone.
Just leave us the frack alone.
There are legitimate concerns
July 11, 2007 - 19:35 ET by Ten7sThere are legitimate concerns regarding foreign food safety. For instance, the Chinese are know to mix melamine (basically an industrial byproduct) in vegtable proteins, wheat gluten. Also they've been caught substituting ethylene glycol (aka antifreeze) for glycerin syrup in tootpaste and cough syrup. And that's just what I've heard of in the last few weeks. Much of what we eat comes from other countries, and its clear that the FDA and USDA aren't structured or equiped to handle the global food market.
Yes, and the little commies a
July 11, 2007 - 19:39 ET by BlondeYes, and the little commies also poisoned our pets.
I think I'm going to scrutinize ingredients a little more closely.
And stick to fresh foods as opposed to prepared stuff from the grocery store.
And so...? The "market
July 11, 2007 - 22:44 ET by sanskritgAnd so...? The "market" will correct itself if all 300 million Americans follow your lead?
The market isn't about "
July 12, 2007 - 23:18 ET by zfThe market isn't about "correcting" itself, it's about freedom of choice.
How can people ("the mar
July 13, 2007 - 12:12 ET by Ten7sHow can people ("the market") choose if they don't know what they're buying?
Yeah, bring on the label. K
July 11, 2007 - 23:57 ET by dahliatraversYeah, bring on the label. Keep me away from food and health products made in China. There's something wrong in their thinking and their approach to the manufacture of these products.
And this is why they swiftly and shockingly executed the head of their Food and Drug admin. Not because he endangered people but because he endangered their trade. Now lots of people are correctly leery of buying such products made in China.
China is bad news
July 12, 2007 - 09:43 ET by mercerg1i agree with you an am surprised that Newsbusters is on the wrong
side of the fence on this one. From what I can tell, retailers are the
only ones against country of origin labeling, because it would mean
they would lose out on the markup they can charge by importing cheap
Chinese goods.
As far as the extra cost regulation would cause, that's BS. How hard is it to put a sticker on an apple?
Why we're not boycotting the Beijing Olympics is beyond me.
Ditto your last point. In t
July 12, 2007 - 16:53 ET by dahliatraversDitto your last point. In theory and practice, the Chinese government is the antithesis of everything in our Constitution.
Well, when you put millions o
July 12, 2007 - 23:00 ET by zfWell, when you put millions of stickers on millions of apples those costs add up...
While I don't disagree about the Chinese government, this is the wrong solution. If the Chinese are truly and intentionally putting poison in food then it's no longer a market or globalization issue, it's a criminal issue. And the solution to that is not to put labels saying "this is poisoned on purpose" on food but to go after the Chinese government themselves with direct action.
Question
July 16, 2007 - 00:07 ET by Unsanemercerg1 - So, who gets to determine what retailers charge? YOU?
(Why aren't we boycotting the Beijing Olympics? As a demonstration of what a free people can do once they are permitted to set forth and pursue their passion.)
Res tantum valet quantum vendi potest.
I'm sure there other countrie
July 12, 2007 - 23:16 ET by zfI'm sure there other countries have legitimate concerns about food safety from American products. I just don't think more regulation is the best solution to "concerns." You'd be punishing the good as well as the bad.
Now that they might contain t
July 13, 2007 - 12:16 ET by Ten7sNow that foods might contain tainted ingredients from foreign countries, perhaps third-party countries may well have cause for concern, as do American citizens. That's my point!
Possibility, BUT
July 13, 2007 - 02:42 ET by UnsaneThe Chinese could be doing this, but it can only hurt them. Ask the Austrians about their attempts to make wine sweeter with antifreeze around 1985 and what that did to their sales.
MAKE WAY FOR THE SAN ANTONIO SPURS!!! THE 1999, 2003, 2005, AND 2007 NBA CHAMPIONS!!!!
Quite often much of foreign f
July 11, 2007 - 23:22 ET by M J BQuite often much of foreign foods are inferior & oft too often contaminated. As such the Chinese Government alarmed at the response of Western customers have executed their equivalent of the head of the EPA!! If only the West treated it's inferior or corrupt officials the same!!
I think globalization can g
July 12, 2007 - 02:21 ET by mostlymoderateI think globalization can go too far. There is no reason this country should be buying food from other countries.
Those crever Chinese certain
July 12, 2007 - 12:24 ET by RackieThose crever Chinese certainry know how to recycre.
http://www.kamera.com/content/anm/China_Buns-20070712_134426.ram
I can think of two good reaso
July 12, 2007 - 23:11 ET by zfI can think of two good reasons: it gives Americans more choices and increases global free market competition.
Globalization is one of the things that has helped water down communism in China and has eroded some of the restraints against personal freedoms there. Don't take that away from the majority of Chinese who have been victims of that reign because of the criminal actions of their government in regards to food.
Seriously, I am shocked to see the socialistic rhetoric exposed over the article. It's just scary when Newsbuster posters are agreeing with the CSIPI and Marion Nestle, who are about as Big Brother as it comes.
Remember, this regulation being proposed would be against foods imported from all countries, not just China. Not the best approach.
zf...Exactly...it would of ta
July 12, 2007 - 23:17 ET by bigtimerzf...
Exactly...it would of taken me too long to try and explain what you just did last night when I posted above, and I would never of been able to put it as succinctly as you did either anyway, plus it was late and I was pooped....lol.
I have been watching this rhetoric go on in the Senate for years now.
Just wanted to thank you.
All of the sudden, giving peo
July 13, 2007 - 12:20 ET by Ten7sAll of the sudden, giving people information is antithetical to freedom? I guess if you were a company selling possibly tainted products; you might take that unreasonable position.
Why we import food
July 13, 2007 - 02:46 ET by UnsaneOh, I can think of three very good reasons we should be buying food from other countries, off the top of my head:
1) We don't grow everything we eat (name a banana growing region of the United States; bear in mind that bananas are themost consumed food on earth after grains.)
2) Different growing seasons elsewhere in the world,
3) It's cheaper.
Protectionism in food markets isn't turning out so well for the Europeans or the Japanese...unless you are a European or Japanese farmer. Then it is great, since you can take the consumers to the cleaners without penalty.
MAKE WAY FOR THE SAN ANTONIO SPURS!!! THE 1999, 2003, 2005, AND 2007 NBA CHAMPIONS!!!!