I’m only surprised by your attempt at sarcasm. Human error is expected, inevitable and wholly part of the human experience.
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You guys are all missing a couple of super-obvious points:
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This has nothing to do with the shutdown, since the FDA in full operation is just as useless, and
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You can avoid this entire issue by not eating industrially-raised chicken. The crux of the problem here isn’t asshole Republicans shutting down the country, it’s a public that has been supporting, with their wallet, a food system that makes no fucking sense.
I just went to the consumer price index and looked chicken up:
1 pound in December, 1980- $0.76.
1 pound RIGHT NOW- $1.48
Anyone else see something wrong with that picture? If only rent prices had the same increase over time.
This news story is the result of that drive to keep prices artificially low. Eat less chicken, and buy it from a farmer who doesn’t partake in these practices, who’s chickens aren’t exposed to hundreds of thousands of potentially-contaminating birds, and you won’t have to worry about this shit. Yes, you’re going to have to pay a little more for your chicken- you’re going to have to pay what it is actually worth. This isn’t libertarian ideology speaking, it’s common sense. The FDA isn’t doing you any favors- opt out of the system altogether. There’s plenty of people who already have.
… The Aristocrats!
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$0.76 in 1980 had the same buying power as $2.28 in 2013.
What am I supposed to be seeing wrong with this picture?
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Tell that to all the vegetarians who have been sickened in salmonella outbreaks over the years. There were around a dozen foodborne illness outbreaks in the U.S. involving fruits and vegetables in 2011 alone.
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same deal, dude. The industrial system that gives us shitty meat gives us shitty fruits and vegetables. The problem is that it’s centralized and homogenized- things are grown the same way in huge batches. You eliminate diversity, and open yourself up to a huge potential threat. If I were a terrorist right now, I’d forget about blowing up buildings and subways and go straight to our food source (hey, NSA, don’t arrest me for saying that.) It’s such an obvious open target- you contaminate one rinky-dink distribution center and you’ve poisoned a big chunk of the country.
And before someone states the obvious- no, we don’t have enough farms to feed ourselves the way we should right now, but that’s where you come in- as the consumer, with your wallet, you will dictate that change if you want it. Seriously, complaining about salmonella when it is the only logical result of the system we’ve set up is naive at best. Even if the FDA did its job, there’s no way it could police the giant monster system we’ve created.
Yes, it’s the industrial system that makes such widespread outbreaks possible. No, it is not possible to “avoid the entire issue by not eating industrially-raised chicken.” Even if you go vegetarian and try to buy organic food from small farms, it’s almost impossible to completely isolate yourself from the effects of the larger food economy.
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That the price of meat isn’t increasing proportionally to the rest of inflation, that’s what, as your math just proved.
“Almost impossible to completely isolate”? Sure, okay. How about “fairly easy to mostly isolate”? That’s possible today, and will be even more possible tomorrow if you stop defending the system and start shopping wisely.
I’m not defending the system. I’m disputing your original comment about how easy it is to avoid the risk of salmonella poisoning.
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Well, it is relatively easy. It’s not 100% fool-proof, obviously. But to act like we have no choice in the matter, or that without the FDA we are screwed as a nation, well, that’s just not true. No one here was pointing that out.
How can you be sure you ARE buying organic small-farm produce without agencies like the FDA enforcing labeling and marketing laws? Unless you have time to visit every farm personally, the guy who sold you that zucchini at the farmer’s market might have bought it from the same wholesaler that Costco uses.
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Boycotts. Consumer advocacy groups. Class Action Lawsuits. Et al. There are ways that the market does in fact regulate itself. Consumers don’t always throw their collective hands in the air and say “well there’s no govt. entity to protect us in this sector - all is lost!”. Many people take action and go after the fraudsters or whatever type of perpetrator is running afoul.
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The problem is that you can’t sue for damages from a salmonella outbreak until AFTER people get poisoned. And without a government body that had the resources to conduct inspections and investigations you’d probably never find out which supplier poisoned you in the first place. Hell, they might not even know they were the ones responsible.
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He might have, except that when you’re dealing with a person who is part of the community he can’t really hide behind his corporate logo. Most farms you CAN visit (and even feature pick-your-own fruits) and would be hard-pressed to devise a fool-proof method for deceiving the public. I’m sure it does happen from time to time, but if you get caught, you’re done for. If Tyson gets caught, they get a slap on the wrist and you’ll be buying their chicken next week anyway.
Since I’ve personally gotten to know the people that supply me the majority of my vegetables, fruit, eggs, beef, chicken and pork (and fish, real soon) I feel a lot more comfortable eating the food I prepare. If the FDA disappeared tomorrow, it would barely affect me these days. Yes, let’s fix it and use it as best as we can, but honestly, it only exists because we’ve created a fucked-up system based on deception and corporate bottom lines. What a dumb reason to exist.
Nothing is 100% guaranteed, nor is that the aim here- I simply want to live in a world that makes sense, that is healthy, that is based upon trust and transparency, two things sorely missing from 99% of the food America eats. To me, that’s insanity.
You don’t need a fool-proof method for deceiving the public. If there isn’t any government body with the authority or resources to keep you honest, you just have to fool enough of the people at the farmer’s market to make a living. Honestly, how many Americans would have the time to visit every farm where their food is grown even if they had the inclination to do so?[quote=“greenberger, post:55, topic:11696”]
I’m sure it does happen from time to time, but if you get caught, you’re done for.
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Caught by whom? Caught how? If nobody’s visiting your farm and nobody has the legal authority to check up on what you’re doing, it’s pretty much an inevitability that a good number of people in your industry are going to cheat if that option is more profitable. It happens all the time, and that’s when they DO have government oversight.
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Let’s see what sort of stories arise tomorrow… It looks like the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will be shutting down tomorrow (they had leftover funds that let them operate up to now) – don’t worry, 300 emergency related positions will be excepted from the furlough.
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That’s nice and I would love to buy organic local chicken to feed my kids. Thing is, I can just barely feed (clothe, house, transport, educate, provide dental care for) my kids now, and there are always a couple of days at the end of the pay period where I am doing some serious improvising.
I am not stupid with money, nor do I live in poverty. According to most metrics, our household is right around the median (in Canada) for household income. And yet we are barely scraping by. I have no idea how people making less get by while still feeding their kids nutritious food and sending them to school in something other than rags (though they do, mostly).
As a result, when I read or hear someone saying that the solution to a particular problem is to make food more expensive, I hear a person who is enjoying some serious privilege. I buy the best quality food I can afford without going down a debt spiral, and that very rarely includes ‘free range organic local’.
The solution to many of the world problems is not to make it even harder for the majority of people who are struggling to survive. I am only interested in listening to people who have suggestions and ideas that don’t indirectly punish the poor for being poor.
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Pet tortoises, snakes, iguanas, aquatic turtles, and also amphibians (frogs) - just handling them.
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Which can be more deadly since I never cook lettuce.
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