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A tiny bit more regulation under the current Administration is announced today. A couple of quick thoughts.

(1) I am shocked at how FEW foodborne illnesses there seem to be. It would be nice for a serious article on food regulation to discuss costs and benefits. Of course, there is no mention of costs at all in the article nor does it suggest the forces at play supporting it … which leads me to my next point …

(2) Who wants to bet me that small, organic, “local” farmers will be exempt from these new regulations? If they are exempt, do the government religionists mean to tell us that some private organizations CAN self-regulate? If they are NOT exempt, do you mean to tell us that local organic food isn’t automatically safe for us? Hmm.

4 Responses to “Who Wants to Bet Me?”

  1. chuck martel says:

    Last summer I bought some beef cuts at a parking lot weekend market in a small town. The woman, who was selling steaks and roasts from the rare British White Cattle she and her daughters raised, commented extensively on the government hoops she was forced to jump through in order to personally market her products. I was intrigued by the cows themselves. Evidently it’s easier to bring an illiterate diseased person from a third world country to the US than it is to import an innocuous bovine from the British Isles. A conversation with a beef expert at the local ag school ended with him declaring, “We don’t need any more beef cattle in this country.”

  2. Harry says:

    Not only will they be exempt, they will be subsidized.

  3. Speedmaster says:

    Doesn’t it always seem like most of these food borne illnesses are from organic produce anyway?

  4. Alex says:

    “The long-overdue regulations could cost businesses close to half a billion dollars a year to implement, but are expected to reduce the estimated 3,000 deaths a year from foodborne illness.”

    “The new rules could cost large farms $30,000 a year, according to the FDA. The agency did not break down the costs for individual processing plants, but said the rules could cost manufacturers up to $475 million annually.”

    Doesn’t it at least give SOME attempt to mention costs and benefits (albeit incomplete)?

    I’d rather not bet you…after all, organic is better anyway, so why should “THEY” have to pay more to make better food more expensive?

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