On Oct 6, 1:36*pm, wrote:
> (As for me, I ain't eating NOTHIN grown in Mexico and Central America)
>
> http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=5959494&page=1
>
> Food Rules: Labels Must Now Give Origin
> Stricter Rules for Labeling Follow Series of Contamination Scandals
> By ELIZABETH LEAMY and KRISTEN RED-HORSE
> Oct. 5, 2008
>
> New regulations at U.S. supermarkets are giving consumers the
> knowledge they have been asking for—where the fresh food they buy
> originates.
>
> A sticker shows the country of origin of an avocado in San Rafael,
> California.
>
> Recent food contaminations have made headlines across the globe
> causing deaths, illness and overall unease. Most recently melamine has
> tainted dairy from China, salmonella was found in peppers in Mexico,
> there were cases of E. coli infected spinach from California and beef
> originating in Omaha.
>
> The country of origin labels will now be on beef, pork, lamb, chicken,
> goat meat, perishable agricultural commodities, peanuts, pecans,
> ginseng, and macadamia nuts. The labeling will provide a sense of
> safety and accountability to concerned consumers.
>
> For safety advocates it is a huge step forward. "It's vitally
> important to ensure that products coming in from other countries as
> well as ones growing here are quickly identified in an outbreak," says
> Caroline Smith DeWaal, Director of Food and Safety Center for Science
> in the Public Interest.
>
> But some food safety advocates say country of origin labeling is not
> specific enough. They want to see labels containing bar codes that can
> automatically trace foods all the way back to the farm.
>
> The tomato industry was furious with the Food and Drug Administration
> when their crop was wrongly targeted this past summer in one of the
> nation's largest salmonella outbreaks. Better labeling, and especially
> the use of barcodes in labels, could have streamlined the
> investigation and saved millions of dollars when perfectly good
> tomatoes were left to rot.
>
> The labeling law passed in 2002, but food producers fought it until
> now because of the cost and burden.
>
> "The industry has fought labeling tooth and nail because if you have
> labeling… people could decide whether they wanted to eat this food or
> not," says Michael Pollan, author of "In Defense of Food." There are
> worries that though peppers from Mexico are safe now, as is spinach
> from California, consumers might not be interested in buying these
> foods from these locations.
>
> There are loopholes in this new labeling system. Foods produced in the
> United States but packed in Mexico can still be labeled "product of
> USA." This common practice hindered government investigators when they
> were searching for tainted tomatoes. If a product like hamburger meat
> contains ground beef from the U.S. and another country, both will be
> listed but there won't be specific indication of what percentage comes
> from each country.
>
> Processed foods like bacon need no labeling; nor do foods used as
> ingredients in other products. For instance, lettuce must now be
> labeled, but salad mixes containing lettuce and carrots will not be.
> Raw shrimp requires a label but if the store adds spices, it then
> becomes unnecessary. "We need to go much farther to have a system of
> traceability that consumers can really trust," says DeWaal.
>
> Food producers have up to six months to comply with the new law. After
> that they could face fines up to $1,000.
>
> Besides being a better way to track meats and produce the law could
> make people more aware of their actions. Buying locally grown products
> could infuse the local economy. It also lessens the food's carbon
> imprint since the trip from the farm to the market is shorter

Come now, you must savor diversity including biologicals i.e.
salmonella, etc.

Walter Hudson