Hey, Chip!
Take a look at what the beef lobby is pushing through, particularly on the "grass fed" claim. As I read it, I could feed my lambs grain mixed with chicken manure (which is done in feedlots, btw), and as long as it didn't exceed 20% of their diet, I could label our meat "grass fed".
Comforting, huh?
ams.usda.gov
Was in your town last week, and stopped into Bread & Circus to see what all the buzz is about. I had to laugh at all the labels claiming "free range" this, "naturally raised" that, "omega 3" this, "no antibiotics" that.
Most of it is totally unregulated, as I understand it. "Free range" means little more than the highly bred Cornish Cross chickens (that can barely walk anyway since they don't need to in confinement facilities) have another square foot to move around (though they can't move cuz they can barely walk) inside a facility. That might be an exaggeration, but it won't be long before Purdue greases some palms and calls their trash "pasture raised".
Buyer beware. In the long haul, probably good for small farm producers, assuming we can keep the gov't from regulating them completely out of the business of selling direct to folks that want the real mccoy.
Here's another nice one:
2/26/2003 Senate Bill Would Restore Organic Food Standard - 2/26 Reuters
Organic food organizations and consumer groups were enraged by a provision
quietly slipped into a massive federal spending bill earlier this month that
eased the livestock feeding requirements for U.S. farmers selling products
labeled as organic.
The spending bill was signed into law by President Bush last week.
Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said she supported a new Senate effort to
repeal the organic provision.
"It is important to maintain a strong organic program that ensures the
integrity of the organic label placed on consumer products," Veneman said in
a statement. "I support bipartisan efforts to ensure those USDA standards
remain in place."
A group of 27 Senate Democrats and Republicans introduced a bill on
Wednesday that would again require organic producers of meat, eggs and dairy
products to use organic feed.
The USDA launched a program last October that allows U.S. organic food
companies to carry a special USDA seal on the label. To qualify for the USDA
organic seal, livestock producers were required to meet strict conditions,
including feeding their animals 100 percent organic grain or grazing them in
special pasture land.
However, some organic livestock producers began lobbying the USDA last
summer for permission to feed their animals conventional grain because of
skyrocketing prices for organic feed.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, said the legislative language
inserted into the federal spending bill earlier this month was done to help
a Georgia organic livestock producer, but was written so broadly that it
created a loophole for the entire industry.
"We should not weaken the organic standards because one producer wants to
cut corners that his competitors are not cutting," said Leahy, a co-sponsor
of the new bill.
A similar bill is planned for the House of Representatives by California
Rep. Sam Farr, a Democrat.
The legislation has been endorsed by companies such as Tyson Foods Inc.,
Grain Millers Inc. of Minnesota, the J.M. Smucker Co. and others.
Lawmakers have expressed concern that unless it is repealed, the provision
could undermine consumer confidence in organic food and hurt U.S. exports of
organic products.
The organic food industry is the fastest growing segment of American
agriculture, with an estimated $11 billion in sales last year. |
