1984

  • USDA’s ministry of truth

    Posted: October 15th, 2011 - 2:10am by Doug Powell

    USDA has entered into some serious 1984-style rhetorical weirdness.

    The PR-types at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) wrote that an Ohio firm had recalled ready-to-eat beef and pork products produced “without benefit of federal inspection.”

    So what is it called when outbreaks of salmonella or E. coli are linked to meat products that had the benefit of inspection?

    E-Z Shop Kitchens, Inc., a Fremont, Ohio, establishment, is recalling an undetermined amount of ready-to-eat, seasoned beef and shredded pork products that were sold for institutional and/or individual consumer use and are listed below.

    The problem was discovered by FSIS personnel when following up on a complaint and is the subject of an on-going investigation. FSIS may take additional regulatory action based on the results of this investigation.

    FSIS has received no reports of illness due to consumption of these products.

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    Food Safety Policy  |  1 Comment
    1984, federal inspection, food safety, rhetoric, truth, Usda
  • Mixed messages from China on food safety

    Posted: November 10th, 2010 - 12:12pm by Doug Powell

    China’s government vowed on Tuesday to make more information available to the public regarding food safety, while sentencing a consumer activist who tried to make more information public about the melamine scandal to 2.5 years in jail.

    The whole mess sounds overtly Orwellian.

    Deng Haihua, spokesman for the Ministry of Truth Health, the main government agency in charge of overseeing food safety, said the new regulations define exactly what information should be publicized and under which government departments.

    Zhang Jian, a food safety researcher with the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said,

    "Only in that way can consumers get credible and scientific guidance."

    Michael Taylor, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Deputy Commissioner for Foods, told reporters in Shanghai today that China's implementation of food safety standards is the country's biggest hindrance in exporting high quality, trusted food products overseas,

    "An important development is the new food safety law that was passed here in 2009 with a very high-level food safety committee. It just shows a forthright approach to making food safety an important priority, to creating more transparency in the food safety system."

    Incarcerating people who set up web sites to help consumers doesn’t help.
     

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    1984, China, food safety, Jail, Orwell, Oversight, policy