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Sat 28 Jun, 2003 07:15 pm
Should US foods, be required by law, to be labeled with their country of origin, when they are neither in a prepackaged nor canned state?
Why not? While I 'm for the label, others are of the opinion that such a label will affect trade relations between the US and other countries. People will see the foreign label and become worried about illness and not buy the item.
Food is labelled as to country and province of origin here. It doesn't seem to make much difference to most people.
We've had several severe outbreaks of food poisoning here in the US from foreign food. Some deaths even resulted. Relative to beef, people are really concerned about Mad Cow disease and would like to know where that beef in the market came from.
I bought some steak today and wondered if it was contaminated or not. I hope not, since I had steak for supper tonight!
Well, I guess you've got two choices, maybe three. Move to a country where labelling is already required. Campaign for labelling. Shop at stores that are sensitive to the labelling question. I know that at least one of the shops I went into with l'k last year had labelling re country of origin on fruits and veggies. It costs more to patronize that sort of store, but if you're concerned, you might want to consider it.
There were two reported deaths from Salmonella food poisoning after eating fruit from Mexico.
Might be better to stick with canned fruit, if the bacteria are going to be such a threat.
Every food product on sale in the UK must carry by law the country of origin, full and total list of ingredients, nutrient values, sell by date, suitability for vegetarians, gluten free diet and so on.
Good idea, but does it increase the price of the food item?
I don't think so. Afterall the manufacturer whether it is kellogs, hienz. or any other knows the ingredients, so they just print the labels accordingly. no big deal
What about the foods, not prepared in factories? Like meats and fruits , etc.
still have to have state/country of origin, sell by dates and local health inspectors from the council do spot checks on all food outlets. supermarkets , cafes , everyhing. very strict rules
olk is referring to a European law: any product sold anywhere must "tell" everything.
Meat (including poultry) has to show country of birth, breeding and where slaughtered. (Additionally, in Germany it is labelled, from which country the feed is coming from.
Of course, GM products have to be labelled, too.
Fruits show origin countries as far as I can think: might be nearly 50 years now.
walter, i think you are right there. the euro food laws were added to similar laws we had in the UK, made 'em stronger. A piece of logic eminating from brussels
fresh foods are identified as to source at the point of sale here. in fact, you can look at your bill from some stores and it will say 'strawberries, california, weight, cost, taxable or not' or 'strawberries, ontario, wt, $, tx' etc.
it's been like that a long time. at least since 1976 (that's when i really started shopping for myself and looking at the labels reasonably seriously)
Not so in the Boston area. Store owners are now complaining about the prospect of new laws.
I suspect that they'll get over it. In the meantime, check out places like Trader Joe's. The people at the food forum I frequent say that their stuff is almost all labelled. They can even identify where they get their cinnamon from.
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