Without The USDA/FDA/etc...

[AGRP]

How exactly would it work?

Wouldn't it be in the best interest of stores/markets to check they are selling safe meat/food products? Would they not higher experts to certify their food/meat as safe?

[noxagol]

Yes and Yes.

A store would get a pretty bad rep if they were selling bad food and not many people would go shop there.

Not only would the grocery stores verify but the producer of said food would probably have it tested by a consumer trusted 3rd party entity. In the free-market, consumer trust is king.

[amy31416]

That would be quite awesome on a lot of levels.

First, the store would hire several people to do the testing, locally, on-site. Second, the supermarket would reject producers who failed their internal quality control testing. Third, all the records are local, and I'd think that it would be easier to trace and stop contaminated foods much earlier.

Supermarkets/suppliers/vendors could have a network of results--and that could easily be shared with the public.

I love the idea.

[Razmear]

About 10 years ago just about every piece of electrical equipment was certified safe by Underwriters Laboratories (UL). They were both an inspection and insurance company backing up any claims against products they certified.
There is no reason why a similar private entity could not do the same for food testing and certification and it would probably be much more efficient than the current FDA bureaucracy.

eb

[romacox]

I have lived long enough to see the changes. It use to be that we were supplied by the local farmer, banker, baker ext. It they cheated us, we knew where they lived. But that was before the Federal government began subsidizing a few select companies to grow massive conglomerates, and food shipped in from Countries like China.

The FDA knows that much of what we receive from china is contaminated...the drugs are found to have dry wall contained in them, toys have lead, food is contaminated with feces and melamine, steel from China used to construct public buildings (like schools) is deteriorating at alarming rates , ext. Yet the FDA and other government agencies turn a blind eye, and continue to trade with them while penalizing American companies for far less infractions. Why do you suppose that is? Some protector of the people is the FDA!