669 WHAT WILL THE FOOD SAFETY TOTALITARIANS ALLOW US TO EAT?

[michaelo]

Never let a serious crisis go to waste! –Rahm Emanuel

There is a lot of tactical cunning in Mr. Emanuel’s command. Consider, by way of example, some good old-fashioned food poisoning.

What will happen if your neighbor eats a sandwich containing badly tainted mayonnaise, gets sick and dies? Nothing! An accident is just an accident, and that’s that.

But what will happen if a couple hundred people get sick eating tainted hamburger, spinach or peanut butter, and several die? The news will pick up the story and get it rolling until it becomes a full-scale food safety crisis.

How do you not let a full-scale food safety crisis go to waste?

You introduce legislation to put the government in total control of the nation’s food chain, and thus in total control of everyone’s life. It’s the ultimate win. You become the Food Safety Totalitarian, and people may only eat what you allow them to eat.

This taking advantage of some tainted industrial foods leads us to ask:

What will the Food Safety Totalitarians allow us to eat?

[qbarfarm]

I think you need to talk to the FDA and find out what is covered in their rules and what is not.
I have talked to them at length, and was told that only certain Drugs and Disease, in food, are the only things covered at this time.
If there was too much mercury or lead "naturally" occurring in our food, they can do nothing but wait until there are so many sickened people that it constitutes an "epidemic". Then they have to write a law before they can step in to control it.
I was told, by FDA, that it is up to the consumer to file a formal complaint. If they get enough people filing formal complaints, it will shed light on a larger problem and they will look at it and decide what to do.
If those complaints are about something which is not already written into their laws, they cannot force the food industry to make any changes. "Deleterious Substances" does not cover "naturally" occurring toxic agents.
The FDA's control of our food is so minimal at this point, that it has allowed the food and animal feed industry to run amuck. Do you trust the food industry to police themselves?
There are some minerals that have a narrow range of safety. (Selenium is a good example). Sometimes a "breath" too much and you are sick. Would you know what made you sick? It could build up in your system over a long period of time and be slowly poisoning you. The symptoms are not straightforward, and Doctors have to specify what to test for.
Are you testing your food to make sure that those who grew it didn't use fertilizer that contains high levels of heavy metals? Is there a law against that? NO. In fact, the EPA promotes the use of "Bio-solids" for fertilizer. Bio-solids is just a fancy name for the waste product of the city's sewer waste. It is not tested, for heavy metals, before applying it to the land to grow our food. But doesn't the word "BIO" in there, make it sound so much better?
What about the mining of salt, calcium, and whatever else comes out of mining? It is not pure. It has other minerals that are never tested for.
If the food company isn't "adding" it to the food, it isn't covered by the FDA rules. Another good example is Mercury in fish. Too much will obviously poison you, everyone knows that, but because it is not something "added" by the fisherman or processors, the best the FDA can do is advise consumers to be careful not to eat too much of it. Why? Because they didn't write a law about it. And what if there was much more than the FDA expected, and even a bite of it was too much? Unless you test it yourself, you are taking your chances. I can guarantee the FDA knows about the dangers and has been criticized, at length, for having so very little control, thereby allowing us to be sickened by all kinds of horrible things.
If you want to be "allowed" to eat what you want, OK. But when you find out you are dying of liver failure or diabetes from getting too much "naturally" occurring Selenium, Mercury,or Lead, don't go crying to the Food Safety Totalitarians, because they just might write a law to protect you.

[DRR]

Eliot Coleman who recently spoke at the EcoFarm conference said, "Thomas Jefferson said he didn’t think we could have democracy unless at least 20% of the population was self-supporting on small farms so they were independent enough to be able to tell an oppressive government to stuff it. It is very difficult to control people who can create products without purchasing inputs from the system, who can market their products directly thus avoiding the involvement of mercenary middlemen, who can butcher animals and preserve foods without reliance on industrial conglomerates, and who can’t be bullied because they can feed their own faces."

An oppressive government, as we have seen historically, will work to disempower those who live on and have a measure of control over the countryside. Small farmers are today facing an unholy alliance of multinational corporations, false environmentalists, Congress, and other organizations bent upon "rural cleansing". It is not just "good eats" that are being progressively taken away, but the rights and freedom of everyone in the US.

[qbarfarm]

Very good comment on the philosophical end of the spectrum.
Reality is: Not all of our small farmer brothers and sisters are trustworthy, intelligent, or do their homework.
I ask you, because it is a small farm, does that mean the farmer knows what they are doing? Or care? Small farms are only big enough to feed their own families. Everybody would need to have their own farm to feed themselves.
Garbage feeding of hogs, by permit, is still going on. On small farms. I personally know a small farmer who is doing it with no permit. He has been turned in so many times, the state just gives him warnings. But he continues to do it because he hides it well. He is able to flourish because his feed is free. My feed costs a fortune and I lose my tale end, trying to finish pigs the right way, while his pigs have any number of illness, but he doesn't mind because his feed costs are nothing. If he lost half his pigs to disease he will still come out ahead. But his pig diseases are threatening to come to my farm via flies and birds. There is no law to control most diseases that stunt the growth of animals. And contrary to popular belief, many immunities are short lived and the animals and people can get the same illness again. That is IF it didn't kill you the first time around.
I want the FDA to be there protecting my investment by making the farmers do their part to control disease so It doesn't come to my farm via the flies and birds. I want the FDA there to protect my herd from any bad feed I may buy from a feed company. I want the FDA there making sure I don't get blamed when a bad batch of pig meat goes through the system. If they don't, it could start a war between the farmers.

[SamFox13]

Quoting qbarfarm: "I ask you, because it is a small farm, does that mean the farmer knows what they are doing? Or care? Small farms are only big enough to feed their own families. Everybody would need to have their own farm to feed themselves."

The way Mr. O is going $ policy wise, you might do well to think about your own farm or neighborhood collective garden.

The national debt is so big & negative trade imbalances so large that the USA is heading for some big problems. Huge!

If these farmers are feeding their own families I think it safe to say that they will learn what to do. They gotta eat their own stuff. What would you do if you were going to start gardening for food? Research. Self education. If they are wise ypu will avoid modified seed & chemical fertilizers.

SamFox

[SamFox13]

PS to my last post-I was talking veg gardens, not animal farms. I forgot to clarify.

I am not much for pigs any way. I'd rather raise goats or a cow for meat.

SamFox

[qbarfarm]

I guess the small hog farmer raising his pigs on garbage really shouldn't be considered a "farm", because he raises nothing else but pigs. He really can't feed himself on just pig meat. I don't really know if he eats his own pig meat.
So what is a small farm, really?

[LEE]

Unfortuneatly there will always be those who dont care and will do anything to make abuck.Just as some moonshiners used to add chemicals to their mash to stretch it and some "weed" growers spray Raid" on their product to give it more kick,so will a few people who raise things(I wont elevate those type by calling them farmers)

We already have laws in place to deal with folks who with criminal intent or by negligence hurt others with things they sell, this includes foodstuffs,enforce them,more govt interference will not help.

If we imagine that FDA/USDA/govt food police give a rats butt about our food safety we are greatly decieved,they dont! Every safety protacol that was instituted in the 1900s has been either eliminated or cut back,USDA wont let meat packers test for BSE,they claim its their job...but they wont do it. They have cut back on inspectors at meat packing plants and now allow foreign corps to inspect their own and ship it in to our nation,labelling it as USDA inspected.

One of the problems is that there is alot of money to be made imposing programs like NAIS on farmers,so the tag and chip makers lobbie the govt to force compliance,so far we have stopped NAIS but the govicorp wont quit, theyll just repackage it and bring it back.

Look at Monsantos BGH in the milk,they bribed state ag depts to look the other way and to support them when the public finally started wising up to them,here in Pa we finally beat monsanto on the law that forbade our dairys from telling people that they didnt use BGH in their herds,Monsanto tried to say we didnt have a right to know,screw that!
The same company now fills many food items with deadly fake aspertine and such substances,thats another story and another.

We have had very safe food here in America until recently,when the govt quit inspecting the big boys and started letting corporations run the food supply,before that there were not nearly the incidents of food being tainted,and little to none originated on the farm, we still have a pretty good record for safe food.

People also need to get rid of the lazy idea that someone in the govt is going to make sure I am safe and protect my interests...aint gonna happen! Get off your butt and take some responsibility,wash your hands,make sure all your family does before eating,just commonsense!

Seeing as how most all foodborn disease gets into food from the processor to your table,and alot of times on your table is where the" bugs" are,people gotta quit being slobs and wash!Quit blaming some farmer(or even a company) for not sterilizing your potatoes before you bought them,WASH THEM!

Bottom line is most farmers are doing their best,you have the lions share of responsibility to take care of yourself,the govt should be a very last resort,they prove every day how inept they are,it wont change,not ever.