Don’t any congressmen care about the text in [food products] labels?
Several months ago I wrote to the headquarters of a large supermarket chain regarding their importing apple juice concentrate. I received what I should have expected, “Juice Concentrate Letter #37″ — one of an assortment companies use to reply to disgruntled customers, it’s easier than writing a real response, and gets the irate customer off your back momentarily.
Well, I still shop at that supermarket but I haven’t given up on reading labels or trying to decipher the electronic imaging on containers–and believe me, that is not always easy–try it for yourself.
Apple juice is one item – now meat products have been added to our import list. Here is the copy of some meat packages (labels) in the stores: “May be a product of U.S., Canada, Mexico.” Fine! Now I have to be concerned about what might be improper slaughtering and processing technology in a foreign country. The track record for governmental quality control is scary and now we are seeing the meat packaging industry enlarged to include Canada and Mexico. Botulism may be our next crisis if meat packers become careless or too casual.
Upon seeing this label at my big-time store, I gave the meat cutter my disappointment speech about buying imported products, put the package back in the case, and went to another store. I knew the next store would have good meat! I didn’t even bother to read the label — I was that sure. Wrong! The same story in my second choice of a smaller chain grocery store. Today we found another large food chain using the same identification: Product of U.S.A., Canada or Mexico on some meat products. This may be honest and legal packaging information. Apparently no one knows which country any one package comes from, and it gives no choice to the buyer to approve or disapprove of the product’s origin – at least if we see grapes marked “Product of Chile” we can take it or leave it on the display! Sounds something like “three bullets may be in the chambers, but which chambers is not known.”
Now I ask again, “Don’t any congressmen care about the text in food labels?” Could it be that our government has also become bedfellows with food markets all around the world?
I didn’t believe the excuse (Response Letter #37) about apple juice concentrate, and I don’t believe supplier products, meat or apple juice is that unavailable right here in the United States. It is hard enough to tie down lax regulation of infractions in America without involving a foreign country whose sanitation procedures and product performance principles alone may be light years behind our sanitized country. So this is global economics! I vote for more local farm markets and meat packers! We have a little “country meat shop” that still wraps up the meat in paper and uses a pencil crayon to write the price; yep, they buy their meat locally, right here in Fairfield County, Ohio.
At one time in recent history America was producing more wheat than we could use and we were the one selling agricultural products offshore. Now the tables have turned, and it is America who is buying products “grown offshore”. Apparently America is becoming a third world country and we are dependent upon any foreign country who can obviously beat our hourly wage standards.
Again and again we are told our congressmen are concerned about our country – how deep that concern unfortunately stalls once those senators and congress persons assume their Washington offices and get their plans in gear to become re-elected. Our local purported concerned representative has failed to respond to at least three requests for simple yes and no answers, but he does continue to have telephone conference calls.
I recommend American citizens become discriminating shoppers. Read the product labels. For good reason, the law requires point of origin, production, processing information on all the products on the shelves. Apparently our elected servants are hoping we are as apathetic as they and feel safe we will never notice apple, pear, prune, cranberry juice by the zillions of gallons being unloaded regularly at shipping docks.
Don’t we have enough beef cattle, apple trees, and anything else in our land of the free, and home of the brave? Is this what “global economy” is all about?
Are we to believe America is not big enough to take care of itself?
Are our congressmen being paid off, or have they been paid off, along with our president(s) for the past several decades and America has been sold out and some kind of deal with foreign nations that forces us to accept food products from countries, period, no exceptions? Seems to me we are leaving ourselves wide open to every kind of stray ingredient that exists. What if something turns up in our tri-country processed meat products? The word “sabotage” is no stranger to terrorists. Are we to believe we are supposed to trust every country to be as concerned as we claim to be?  The next “bomb” could be spelled “botulism” — it won’t make a lot of smoke but it will be just as devastating. It is a fair observation our elected representatives would pay more attention to us electorates IF their loved ones died from tainted imported meat.
An American insurance company claims, “You are in good hands with [their name].”  Can that be said about every foreign country we buy from? REMEMBER — we have a right to know.
Count me one dejected and demoralized American citizen!
William B. Venrick
aka Bill Venrick
Lancaster, Ohio