Got a question

[freelance]

First, I will vote for Ron Paul, no matter what, so the answer doesn't affect my vote.

I have a BIG problem with all the bad food that is finding its way into our food supply. There are some things that I do not believe should be left to the honor system, and safeguarding our food supply is one of them. How does Ron Paul feel that we should protect our food supply? I WANT country of origin labeling, and I WANT to know if ANY ingredient comes from China. Oh, and one other thing. GM foods really scare the hell out of me. I WANT to know when produce is genetically modified. I do not want that stuff to pass my lips. I do all I can now. I don't use packaged foods and I make everything from scratch. I don't buy fish from China (fish has to be labeled), etc.

It is obvious to me that BigAg cannot monitor itself. If they could, we wouldn't be having all of these recalls. WHAT'S the solution?

The market cannot sort this out if we all end up DEAD!

Edit: I also don't eat out any longer. I have enough restaurant recipes that I can make at home, so that's no big deal.

[beermotor]

The market most certainly can sort this out. The solution is local. MARKET your own fish/produce/whatever, expressly pointing out "safer than imports from who knows where the hell" ... I guarantee you will have a market.

This is actually a safety concern that we need to address on a local planning / local government level. Cities are huge unsustainable things. We need to plan better, in the event something happens to interrupt the food / water / fuel supply. At any rate, this is something that local markets can most certainly address. Bureaucrats cannot, and never will be able to adequately stop it.

[freelance]

Okay, I lost my head for a moment. Local/state, OF COURSE! You know, even for those of us who BELIEVE, we've been conditioned for so long, it's easy to lose our heads.

I'm just really mad about all this bad food right now, and I'm not thinking straight.

Unfortunately, there's so little local market left right now. I buy local as much as humanly possible, but most of the local farmers are out of business. I even grow some of my own--until they make that illegal!

The thing is that it's going to take real might to reverse the process from BigAg to local, because of all the regulations in place.

Thanks for the quick reply.

[LibertyEagle]

I heard on the news the other day, I think it was Lou Dobbs but I'm not positive, that "country of origin" labeling legislation had been passed quite awhile back, but that big Agra had such a huge lobby, they somehow were keeping it from being implemented.

[freelance]

Got one more question. Hypothetically, how do you see the transfer of responsibility from federal to local without an interim period of chaos? I haven't really thought this stuff through.

[maiki]

Ummm.. Why not? Have you noticed how much popular and available organic/natural/local grown foods are these days? They started out as being way more expensive, but they are now much more greatly available. Why? Because people wanted to eat healthier: enough that they were willing to offset the cost of better animal and growing practices.

And it is not just a benefit out of "labeling". Many local farmers that have much healthier food than the mass market "organic" food don't put that label on their product because they don't want to deal with the expense of certification. They still tell you what practices they used, though, voluntarily.

Hillel type organizations have been kosher-labeling food for 100 years on their ownm through private organizations. Allergy groups could do the same without asking the government to do it for them, as could various health/foodie organizations.

[freelance]

LE, you're right. I heard that too. Laws mean nothing anymore.

[maiki]

Got one more question. Hypothetically, how do you see the transfer of responsibility from federal to local without an interim period of chaos? I haven't really thought this stuff through.

Start out private companies to do labeling: like kosher labeling organizations. I'm sure food labeling won't be the first service that is cut.

[Razmear]

This was discussed a while back here:
http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=7916
I just bumped it up because it was buried about 4 pages deep.

eb

[JosephTheLibertarian]

Okay, I lost my head for a moment. Local/state, OF COURSE! You know, even for those of us who BELIEVE, we've been conditioned for so long, it's easy to lose our heads.

I'm just really mad about all this bad food right now, and I'm not thinking straight.

Unfortunately, there's so little local market left right now. I buy local as much as humanly possible, but most of the local farmers are out of business. I even grow some of my own--until they make that illegal!

The thing is that it's going to take real might to reverse the process from BigAg to local, because of all the regulations in place.

Thanks for the quick reply.

yes, companies will be held responsible *as individuals* for poisoning people, they would have no corporation to hide behind from liabilities. These companies would also surely work with non profit consumer groups in order to improve their credibility, but this, of course, is optional.

Someone gets sick from your product, you go to court, it will be settled in this fashion, unless there's an outside settlement. The best thing about non profit organizations is that, well, let's say "consumer advocacy" (CA) is a group that has a rating system for restaurants, so they agree with the restaurants to examine their operations and, in return, the restaurant receives a possibly good - great rating + credibility for voluntarily subjecting itself to this organization, so all of the pieces will truly fall into place in a true free market, you don't need a government to do everything.

[freelance]

Maiki,

Have you noticed how much popular and available organic/natural/local grown foods are these days?

Yes, I have. Wildoats has reached parity with the grocery store when they have a sale. I got organic zucchini for $1 a pound a couple of weeks ago.

I have actually switched to mostly organic. I have also called all of the supermarkets that I use and quizzed their meat/seafood/produce managers. Publix was the most cooperative. Funny thing. The produce manager at our local store grows his own and buys himself a cow once a year. LOL!

For anyone who cares, Publix does not sell slop-fed beef and for now they sell no GM produce. Of course, that's all likely to change. Harris Teeter was a little huffy when I asked them the same thing. I love to go in, ask about country of origin on the fish and then say, OH! NEVERMIND! I only eat American.

[freelance]

Thanks Razmear, I'll check out that thread.

You guys. I totally get it now. I was looking at the problem through the current paradigm. You can't do that, obviously, or you come off stupid--like I just did.

I also see that I've been compartmentalizing issues, instead of applying the same big picture to them.

Still, I'm creeped out by our food supply. It's life or death, and we deal in the current system right now. The real reason I'm freaking is that I (used to) feed Bumblebee Tuna to one of my kitties as a treat, and Bumblebee, LLC is the holding company for that last recall. They don't usually use the Bumblebee name in the Old Media, because everyone knows that name. Instead, they use the lesser-known brand names.