Human food supply

[Davis]

The US food supply is at risk, and this problem goes well beyond pet food.  There are serious problems with regulations and labeling. I read a newspaper article a few days ago that said the only food product required to be labeled for country of origin is seafood.  I have been looking for an online source to verify this, but it was difficult to find.  However, I did find this startling article:
http://www.slowfoodusa.org/change/10-06-05_take_action.html

In my opinion, globalization of the food supply is one of the scariest things that has happened to the US, and that does not even take into account the questionable practices and lax regulations of this country alone.  I am tired of hearing how our food supply is protected and is the safest in the world.  I believe this is no longer true. I've been searching relentlessly for information on this and have come up with several links that are well worth reading, all of which are related to this problem.  For those of you who are willing to take the time, I'm going to post these links here.
This article came out a month before the recalls, and OMG, look what it says!  How ironic:
http://www.amonline.com/article/article.jsp?id=18162&siteSection=1

Here are several more that are an informative read. What has any of this accomplished?:
http://health.cch.com/spotlight/food-drug-devices/040105.asp
http://www.consumersunion.org/pub/core_food_safety/002288.html
http://www.fas.usda.gov/itp/ofsts/us.html
http://ciir.cs.umass.edu/cgi-bin/ua/web_fetch_doc?dataset=ua&db=agendaFall2006&query=and&doc_id=39
http://lugar.senate.gov/CRS%20reports/country_of_origin.pdf
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/agecon/trade/four.html
http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/biolabgu.html

[diffuse]

buying locally raised food is great for so many reasons. small local farmers are much less likely to use tainted, dangerous products that corporate farms (perdue, etc.) use--@ our local farmer's market i saw a lot of signs saying that the meat from various farmers was raised on corn that the farmers grew themselves.

plus buying local supports your local community, & the food is fresher b/c it hasn't flown thousands of miles (the average journey of a piece of supermarket produce is something like 1400 miles). which also cuts down on fuel costs needed to ship it.

all that for food that is safer & tastier!

[Tommyboy]

locally raised food? supporting local community? cutting down on fuel costs? tastier and safer food?
where do you live, dude? if the multinationals hear about this one, we will all be charged with treason.

[Davis]

Oh yeah? You want to hear a good one about that? Our small, local farmers are now going to have their fees raised 300%.  Great!!...penalize them!  And us, with passed on costs. This just came out in our local news this week. Nice, don't you think?  Good timing too. I already could not afford this type of produce. It's outrageous, especially the organic. Now what? How about $75 for a bag of potatoes....anyone?  You see?...they sabotage and get their grubby hands on everything.

P.S. I should clarify that those fees are local government fees for my area, an area which is already short of produce. Maybe the rest of you will get lucky.

[Therese]

While I was at the grocery store yesterday I asked the butcher if he knew where the chicken feed came from for the chickens they sold. He looked at me a bit puzzled and said he didn't know, but they're packaged in College Station, TX. I could tell from the look on his face that he was clueless and I asked, "You have no idea what I'm talking about do you?" He just shook his head and said no.

I mentioned a few million chickens having been fed melamine...in the food chain...blah, blah...blah...you all know the story. He didn't ask what melamine was...didn't flinch when I used the words contaminated or tainted...or when I mentioned dead pets. He just repeated the part about College Station and told me if there was a problem the main office would let them know.

Sad...sad...sad!!!!

[Cindy Nevarez]

I know!!!!

[Davis]

Therese, I have experienced exactly the same thing with almost everyone I talk to. People are completely out of touch with what is going on, and with the ramifications for the human food supply. They often know nothing about any of this at all. I heard from a friend a couple of weeks ago. When I emailed back, I mentioned that I had been busy with the pet food situation. The response was "Why, are you eating cat food these days?", and "We feed our cats dry food, so we don't need to worry about it."  Needless to say, I did not attempt to explain. That guy in your meat department does his job every day and goes home. He doesn't want to be bothered with anything more. He most likely knows very little about the food industry. I have found that most people know little or nothing about the industry they work in, especially in customer situations like the one you experienced. As for society overall, complacency seems to be the norm.

[Therese]

As for society overall, complacency seems to be the norm.

You nailed that, and I'm sure that's what the FDA, PFI, and others count on when they issue statements saying the pet food situation has been resolved. Most people will believe what's most convenient for them to believe. After all, it's much easier to believe the problem is solved than to spend time searching for new ways to feed their pets...and themselves.

[Calico]

And now it is in the fish!http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070508/ap_on_he_me/food_contamination

 

[Cindy Nevarez]

Well....we were expecting that!