- Arizona considers relaxing its law banning potluck meals outside workplace [KPHO]
- Class action says there is starch in McDonald’s mozzarella sticks and wants money for that [Eater]
- Small North Carolina brewer pulls out of one market rather than trigger state law forcing it to deal through licensed distributors [Charlotte Business Journal]
- Speaking of consumer-unfriendly laws that benefit in-state alcohol distributors with political clout, South Carolina considers adding an “at-rest” law to its three-tier regulatory system [Columbia, S.C. Free Times]
- “These decisions are being made by people who are four to five generations removed from food production.” [Oregon rancher Keith Nantz, Washington Post, on federal land policy]
- Freakout memes aside, shed no tears for country-of-origin-labeling on meat [K. William Watson/Cato, Jayson Lusk] “Reign of Terroir: How to Resist Europe’s Efforts to Control Common Food Names as Geographical Indications” [K. William Watson/Cato]
- “Drunk with power — how Prohibition led to big government” [Julia Vitullo-Martin, New York Post reviewing Lisa McGirr, The War On Alcohol: Prohibition and the Rise of the American State]
Filed under: alcohol, Arizona, beer and brewers, eat drink and be merry, free trade, McDonald's, North Carolina, South Carolina
6 Comments
The problem is, I *want* to know where my food is coming from. I want country of origin labels on all of it.
One of many instances in which “I want” might not suffice to create a legal right.
Not in and of itself, but get enough people to vote for our representatives, etc. And they pass a law because some countries have a very bad track record of food quality, then that does create a legal right.
Not as simple as you imagine. A steer is bred in Mexico, raised to slaughter weight in Canada and slaughtered in the US. What country was it from?
Then the label states “Product of the following countries: USA, Canada, Mexico”. Simple.
The last time I looked, participation in a potluck was completely voluntary. If you’re uncertain about the provenance of the food, don’t eat it. As the food at any potlucks I have attended is prepared by people I know, people who will also be consuming it, I trust them not to make me sick because they’d be getting sick too. And they never have.