With the legislative changes, "you would get safe food from places like China, where they sell all manner of crap," Dingell told Dooley.
Under the proposal, food producers would have to pay annual registration fees of $2,000 per facility, generating $600 million for FDA food-safety activities, more than doubling the current budget. The FDA would be required to conduct inspections every two years of both domestic and foreign makers of drugs and medical devices.
The FDA regulations are there to make sure that proper food handling is all you need to keep your food safe.
]]>That said, I'd rather have safer food (assuming this does lead to problems being caught before most of the contaminated food has been eaten).
]]>Choose wisely
Wash throughly
Cook to the proper temperature
Big brother will never be able to catch everything!
]]>"you would get safe food from places like China, where they sell all manner of crap,"
um . . . this doesn't seem very PC to me.
funny, yes. true, quite possibly. politically correct? not so much.
]]>@bohemian:
WTF? Slave labor from Thailand?
]]>$600 Million / 300 million people = $2 per person/year. So...the only reason this would have a significant impact on food prices is if the company had to make "real" changes, which, of course, means that there are huge issues needing to be fixed currently.
]]>So what can we do?
Beef? Mad cow disease and sick cows.
Chicken? Injected with to much stuff.
Fish? Too much mercury,
Vegitables, Too much pesticide,
Organic? Too many bugs and contaiminated water.
I think I'll go along with steaming pile and eat Soylent Green food.
]]>I used to work (70s-80s) for a large company which had a meat packer as a subsidiary. The FDA inspectors/inspections were at least partly paid for directly (ie, it was billed for time) by the company, which nonetheless actually complained that there were not enough inspectors or inspections.
And yes, if you increase the cost of doing business you had bloomin` well better expect the increased cost not only to be passed along to you but with an added percentage to keep profit level (percentage) constant.
Why isn't the FDA satisfied with the safety of our food?
If it's because the food companies are slacking off, then they can damn well eat the cost of increased federal oversight, because it's their own fault. Had they done their jobs in the first place, this wouldn't be necessary.
]]>The total impact of this spread over all food items sold in the US will amount to less than pennies per item.
We are not getting sick or dying because of the FDA and the inspections that it runs.
For the most part companies follow the rules, however some times places want to be more competitive and cut corners . When this happens it drives a trend for everyone to cut corners because now everyone has to compete.
It actually hard to die of a food problem. You can get pretty darn sick maybe for month mostly for a days.
Food in many parts of China is full of toxic chemicals and other poisons and people don't die. That is the attitude that the Chinese government has on the issues, funny enough it's also your view.
So go forth and eat cadmium enriched carrots from China. I'll pay the 2 cents a pound for safe food.
]]>I'm gonna have to take the gamble on this one and go with cheap food
Besides, I can't remember the last time ramen was contaminated with e-coli or something
]]>"These are just costs that will be passed to the consumer..."
...because, y'know, those CEOs really need multi-billion dollar payouts.... how else could they afford another solid-gold humvee?
]]>You folks that decry "Big Government" must enjoy being fucked hard by "Big Business". (Two sides of the same coin in my book). The fact is, business will do whatever is in their (short term) interests at all times. And please don't give me the argument that "the free marketplace will sort it all out" Bullshit. If that were true, there wouldn't be over 50,000 lobbyists in Washington trying to rig the game for one company over another (and its customers).
More food safety. Good.
Less food safety. Bad.
Contaminated,unsafe,adulterated Chinese food in your supermarket now. Bad.
Or are we talking everything including US produced basic ingredients like flour, sugar, milk etc?
They can make slave labor shrimp from Thailand and junk like snackwells packs go through the roof and I could care less. It is the basic food ingredients I care about. If it becomes more expensive to have pickles made in China or India vs. having pickles made here I'm all for it. I would rather see stateside goods have an edge.
]]>It isn't that we want more safety; it's that we want all the safety that has disappeared these recent years in our ongoing lust to let corporations make as much money as possible and to outsource our lives to slave-labor countries.
]]>Worse, Government is generally incompetent when it is not outright corrupt. There will still be accidents and lawsuits, even if you inspect once every two years (and assuming you do something more than before the e-coli problem, the USDA's sniff test on beef).
And what about the vegetables I get at the local farmer's market (or the pickup on the corner with just picked corn in summer)? Can't have that!
There can also be certifications from private organizations (that would be liable), or the food companies liability insurance - it is not in their interest to pay big damages.
SUVs are safer than subcompacts. But they are more expensive initially and to run. Congress cannot change physics, mathematics, or biology. Or economics.
And techniques like irradiation which will kill everything which could harm you are either banned or require dire warnings (I approve of truth in labeling, but only that).
You might want perfection even if things are eaten unwashed and raw, or years past their expiration date - and would be willing to pay triple what you do today, but I prefer to use my money more sensibly.
Every dollar you force me to pay for ultrasafe deluxe organic food because you want it is a dollar I can't use for shelter or medicine.
Why not create a Consumerist certification service so you would inspect everything and give your stamp of approval for whatever fee, and suffer any liability?
]]>If you want to pay $50 for a head lettuce, I can probably make sure that only a one in a billion heads are unsafe.
Come on people, its not like we have people getting sick and dying in mass numbers due to bad food.
]]>No doubt, it does sound like the FDA (or whoever proposed this) thinks the food is unsafe.
]]>I think im gunna buy a farm and grow my own food.
]]>If you want more safety, it'll cost more. You want it faster, it'll cost more. You want it better, it'll cost more. That's just common sense.
Add onto that the old saving: fast, cheap and good. You can only have two of the three. But with the government, you'd be lucking if you get one.
]]>We're still busy razing the land for biofuels.
]]>While I personally think that a food price increase to consumers are inevitable if the manufacturers incur a raise in expenses, the organization wins 1st Prize for using that as a sharp threat for a vital items. There's a right way to use PR and a wrong way too... Jerks!
]]>