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Canadian Food: Now with Less Regulation!
In a bewildering development, Canada’s Conservative government, apparently oblivious to the rash of food-safety scares in recent years, has proposed less regulation of the food industry there. According to talking points, the government wants to eliminate the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s approval process for food labels. The government claims—and please don’t stop me if you’ve heard this before—that scrapping this system will help companies “take the lead in fulfilling their responsibility for consumer protection.”
Hilariously, even as the government markets the idea as an industry-friendly initiative, the most vehement opposition is coming from the food industry: The Food Processors of Canada calls it “playing Russian roulette with the Canadian public.” The total savings? An almost invisible 87,000 Canadian dollars. The timing? Horrible. The proposal leaked in the same week that authorities traced a deadly strain of listeriosis to a Canadian meat processing plant.
Posted by | Monday, August 25, 2008 at 4:59pm | 2 comments
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Nicholas, I am a little surprised to hear this attitude from you. I was under the impression that most Chowhounds believed, as I do, that most of our food problems have been because of gov't interventions, not in spite of them.
And do not be surprised by the reaction from the big companies. Large companies will sometimes talk about the benefits of the free market, but they rarely want one. Regulations make it more difficult for the small guys, so the big guys, by extension, benefit.
Well, f***, there goes the better junk food that makes it here to the US.
Anyone who thinks that corporations will “take the lead in fulfilling their responsibility for consumer protection” is mentally defective. Corporations care about short term profit, period. Food safety incidents are just another risk to be mitigated by the PR staff.
Canadians, look forward to more HFCS and other non-nutricious fillers in your food.