| I was in complete shock when I first heard that food manufacturing giants like Kraft, Kellogg, and the Grocery Manufacturers Association are actually for Henry Waxman's new food safety bill. The bill will increase inspections, require traceability in our food supply, and charge a user fee to each "food facility" (not farms or restaurants) to cover some of the FDA's increased costs in carrying out the bill. Granted, the industry representatives who testified in last week's hearing each had a few tweaks they wanted to make in the bill - some of which might result in a weaker bill - but on the whole they are not opposed to a food safety bill passing, or even some of the bill's provisions.
So who is NOT for the bill in that case? The meat industry. This took me by surprise - not because I expect them to be for food safety regulation (in a recent hearing before the Ag Committee, they said they needed no new regulation) but because typically they are regulated by the USDA and this bill covers the FDA. I didn't think they'd have that much stake in this bill's outcome. (H/t Naomi Starkman)
Here's why the meat industry opposes the bill:
Woodall said meat producers are also concerned about the precedent this bill could set in giving the Food and Drug Administration regulatory authority over the industry, which is currently watched over by the Department of Agriculture. The cattlemen's group also takes issue with mandatory recalls and says voluntary recalls work better. The industry worries that the bill would require government inspectors on farms, Woodall said.
"There is no need to have FDA inspectors come on farms or cattle operations," Woodall said. "There are too many other processes and steps between the time it leaves the farm and gets to the consumer, including the way the consumer handles the product when they get it home. It would give a false sense of security to the consumer."
They might sound a lot more convincing if we weren't in the middle of yet another ground beef E. coli recall.
(Hilariously, the meat industry is totally being outspent in lobbying dollars by the groups that are actually FOR food safety reform, such as the Grocery Manufacturers Association. Perhaps that will actually work in our favor for a change! Don't take this to mean that GMA is suddenly on our side. The big companies lost a lot in the peanut butter salmonella recall and they are fixing their food safety practices out of financial necessity to prevent future losses. They are for government reform to make sure that other companies don't gain a competitive advantage against them by going cheap on food safety. And, no doubt, they want this bill to come out to their specifications, which may not be to the greatest good of American consumers.) |
