The Politics of Food Labeling by Tara Dirst

When it was discovered that a cow from Washington had bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease, there was an outcry that more must be done to screen animals appropriately for the disease. This re-awareness on the part of the American people that one's food source could be contaminated and the USDA's testing regulations may not be adequate caused a demand for more testing as well as a ban on spinal material being allowed in processed meat.

After it was determined that the cow originally came from Canada, more noise was heard about "country-of-origin" labeling of foods. The 2002 Farm Bill requires country-of-origin labeling on food products, which studies show most consumers support – what a shocker! Contrary to public opinion and consumer need, however, a provision was tucked into a recent appropriations bill that delays the implementation of the labeling by two years. Food industries claim that requiring country-of-origin labels would be prohibitively expensive, but that seems unlikely – they are already labeling their products in other ways, why not add another element? Many in the livestock business support such labeling because they believe that it would benefit U.S. farmers. The issue of mad cow disease, as well as the recent outbreak of avian flu makes this issue even more pertinent. This blatant disregard for American food-safety should cause us to raise a stink.

How can we as consumers affect change? How can we get country-of-origin labels placed on our food? How can we more effectively guarantee the safety of the food we eat? We need to become involved with politics, locally and nationally. We need to hold our politicians accountable for their voting records. And the number one most important thing we can do is to examine who is giving donations to our politicians. Just take a look at the numbers and you'll realize why we end up with these kinds of policies: 82% of food processing and sales PAC money goes to Republicans. (Source: The Center for Responsive Politics) It was Republicans who voted overwhelmingly to delay the implementation of country-of-origin food labeling, while Democrats like Tom Daschle, John Kerry, and John Edwards have been attacking this decision. Do you see the connection? What all political issues boil down to is the need for significant and meaningful campaign finance reform. This can help make our politicians more accountable to the voting public and make them demand mandatory implementation of country-of-origin food labeling.

Website for The Center for Responsive Politics: http://www.opensecrets.org/