Want to know if that stuff you're eating was cloned?

That government wouldn't require accuracy in labeling food, particualy the types of food that are of concern to consumers is amazing. But it's amazing only to those who don't understand that food producers are among those who own our government.

Therefore, the only way we have of ensuring that our government nannies are indeed looking out for our interests above those of corporations is to insist on it.

Today's case in point: 89% of consumers say they want to know if the meat and milk they buy comes from cloned animals. According to Consumers Union, "This January, the FDA stated that it sees no problems with the safety of milk and meat from cloned cows -- despite 160,000 comments from consumers that they have concerns about the safety of cloned milk and meat and Congressional legislation asking FDA to hold back and do further study."

So unless there is an organized outcry, you're going to be eating God knows what.

Consumers Union has provided an easy way to get in on the outcry. Go to this web site to communicate your concerns to Congress.

What are we doing about the dangers of imported food?

THE WEEK magazine ran a summary of the information that purported to answer the question: "How worried should we be about our food supply?"

Anybody who eats should read this article from the June 22, 2007 edition. The gist of it is:

How much food does the U.S. import? - A massive amount, some of it bearing salmonella, E. coli, banned antibiotics, and industrial chemicals.

Doesn't the U.S. inspect food imports? - Only a small fraction.

How much contaminated food gets in? - Literally tons.

Why is the food from China so worrisome? - China food production is virtually unregulated. "Food processing plants typically draw water from sources contaminated with sewage or industrial waste, and few factories require workers to wash their hands after using the bathroom. Chinese produce farmers often fertilize their crops with human waste and spray them with dangerous pesticides."

What is the U.S.doing about this? - Much of the tainted food gets through.

Should we just ban food from China? - That's not going to happen. "U.S. trade officials and domestic food manufacturers warn that any ban on Chinese food imports would invite retaliation by China."

So what can be done? - It's up to retailers, presumably, since government won't act to protect citizens. "Wal-Mart requires its foreign suppliers to meet U.S. safety standards. Kraft Foods and retailing giant Costco require suppliers to list the origin of all the ingredients that go into their processed foods. “In the absence of a good food-safety system run by the government,” says Costco vice president Jeff Lyons, “we supplement it with our own.”

Giant Eagle responds to labeling query

The following information was received from Giant Eagle in response to my query about labeling food that originates in foreign countries.

"Giant Eagle would like to assure you that we are truly dedicated to the quality of our Giant Eagle brand products. We work very closely with our manufacturers on their approval and testing processes for all raw materials used to make Giant Eagle brand products. We do not directly import food products from China for our brand. We do have a handful of suppliers that are using raw materials from China and are working with them specifically to find alternate sources of supply and improving their raw material handling processes.

"Please be assured that we respond as quickly as possible to all new information from the Food and Drug Administration and our suppliers to ensure our products are safe and wholesome."

As an introduction to this letter from Giant Eagle's "Quality Assurance Team," a consumer affairs representative wrote: "... the FDA requires the country of origin of any foreign-made products or ingredients supplied from foreign countries to be listed as such on the product label or packaging."

I'm still looking for a label that will admit that some of the ingredients are from other countries. I especially wonder where those winter-time fruits and vegetables come from - and all the other loose items that bear no label or packaging. These apparently are exempt from the FDA labeling requirement.

Ideally, all food items would carry labels indicating where they were packaged and where the ingredients originated.

Now it's Chinese toothpaste

In today's news is a warning about Chinese toothpaste because some of it contains a poisonous chemical used for making solvents.

It was reported on the site of Gulf News.

The FDA has warned against the following brands: Cooldent Fluoride; Cooldent Spearmint; Cooldent ICE; Dr. Cool, Everfresh Toothpaste; Superdent Toothpaste; Clean Rite Toothpaste; Oralmax Extreme; Oral Bright Fresh Spearmint Flavor; Bright Max Peppermint Flavor; ShiR Fresh Mint Fluoride Paste; DentaPro; DentaKleen; and DentaKleen Junior.

A question for your grocer

If you care enough about the safety of the food you eat, you'll send an e-mail to your grocer that is similar to the one I sent two days ago to Giant Eagle, where we do a lot of our grocery shopping:

Question: Is the food packaged under Giant Eagle brand name produced in the U.S.? Produced in other countries? Produced, specifically, in China?

It would be a show of responsibility to indicate on the packages from which countries the food originates. I will be watching for such labels in the future.

Your government risks your life for business profits

Next time you're at the supermarket, consider dried apples preserved with a cancer-causing chemical, frozen catfish laden with banned antibiotics, scallops and sardines coated with putrefying bacteria, and mushrooms laced with illegal pesticides. Because, according to a report in the Washington Post, these were found to have been shipped to the U.S. from China, along with more than 1,000 shipments of tainted dietary supplements, toxic cosmetics and counterfeit medicines also from China.

But, get this - "change will prove difficult, policy experts say, in large part because U.S. companies have become so dependent on the Chinese economy that tighter rules on imports stand to harm the U.S. economy, too."

Can you even believe that? Yes. Because it's another government screwing of Americans for the sake of corporate profits, and we're all used to that.

According to the Ohio Farmers Union, Congress passed a mandatory country-of-origin labeling law in 2002. It requires retailers to notify consumers about the country of origin for beef, pork, lamb, produce, peanuts and seafood. But "a series of well-placed opponents delayed the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) from actually implementing the law at the scheduled date in 2004, with the exception of seafood."

Can you even believe that? Oh yes. Because this is our government at work. Government at all levels works to improve profits, no matter what, even if it means risking your life.

Your government at work on food safety

It was reported today by the Boston Globe that 6,000 hogs have been ruled by the FDA as unsafe for human consumption, though several hundred have already been consumed.

In an essay here yesterday I mentioned that certain Ohio hogs may have been contaminated, but today's report said this is not the case.

It doesn't matter in the big picture. Several hundred hogs are, or have already, transmitted contaminates that could lead to kidney failure, and some of that meat could be in Ohio stores. Who knows? Likely not the bureaucrats whose jobs it is to stay on top of these matters and even if they know, they might not announce it to the public.

In spite of what they call their use of an "abundance of caution," they should be held criminally liable for the deaths of many pets and any human sickness or deaths that may occur from dereliction of duty, as was my thesis yesterday.

Criminal penalties needed for contaminated animal food

WBNS TV, Columbus, reported this morning:

"Salvaged pet food contaminated with an industrial chemical was sent to hog farms in as many as six states, including Ohio, federal health officials said Tuesday." A poultry farm may also be involved, the report said.

It may well be into the food supply for humans, but nobody seems to know. In the meantime, is anybody actually dumb enough to eat pork or poultry?

What Americans need to ask of their government is: Who the hell is watching the corporations and marketers responsible for this?

Anyone who kills another person in an accident can be charged with a criminal act. What about people who feed contaminated pet food to hogs? If there were ever a criminal act, that would be it.

Who is responsible for the tainted pet food in the first place, for its manufacture and sale? Are we going to ever name names here? Are we going to find out if this was done intentionally by manufacturers to save money, or if it was done from pure stupidity?

Either way, are these people not criminals who should be sent to prison, more so than someone in a car accident?

Further, the government inspectors and bureaucrats who are responsible for consumer protection should be held personally liable. It doesn't matter whether they are deliberately looking away while this is going on, or if they simply don't care enough to carefully check what's going into the food supply. In either case they should be headed for prison.