Market Place Can Do What Government Can’t?
By: Doug Busselman, Executive Vice President
A news blurb on the egg situation from Iowa caught my eye this morning, with Senator Charles Grassley indicating that the marketplace’s response is the best solution to dealing with the egg producer at the center of the salmonella bacteria problem that has brought a lot of eggs into a recall situation and probably harmed the industry. In this news blog item Senator Grassley seems to indicate that unless there was something criminal involved the Food and Drug folks might not have the ability to take action against Jack DeCoster and his egg production facilities. On the other hand, Grassely didn’t pull any punches in making it clear that the non-purchase of the specific name brands would have their own effect in dealing with the situation.
Now, before I get the response back from those who are quick to jump on a non-responsive government agency for failing to act with regulation – it should be noted that the current administration isn’t the same one of the much-maligned President Bush (which from what I’ve read on more than one occasion didn’t do the things they should have in regulating the snot out of any and all business enterprises). It would seem the current administration (despite their government can do anything and everything mode of operation) has also failed to resolve this situation (much like they didn’t do all that was needed doing when the Gulf Oil problem occurred).
Food safety is a serious issue and all attention possible is called for in first making certain that appropriate, science-based, production practices are carried out. That means having in place the necessary regulatory structure to oversee that the practices are applied. It also means having in place the systems to make random checks and trace-back problems as effectively as possible.
Farm Bureau policy has called for the streamlining of the process and putting the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in control, solely responsible, for food inspection and safety. In addition more research and development should be directed at dealing with the technology capabilities of improving food safety results.
There will be situations which happen (we don’t live in a perfect world with a zero-risk possibility) when problems will still need attention. In addition to full-force implementation of actions provided by law and regulatory oversight – the marketplace can and should be allowed to extract its retribution for those who have failed to measure up to the responsibility of meeting safety requirements.
A news blurb on the egg situation from Iowa caught my eye this morning, with Senator Charles Grassley indicating that the marketplace’s response is the best solution to dealing with the egg producer at the center of the salmonella bacteria problem that has brought a lot of eggs into a recall situation and probably harmed the industry. In this news blog item Senator Grassley seems to indicate that unless there was something criminal involved the Food and Drug folks might not have the ability to take action against Jack DeCoster and his egg production facilities. On the other hand, Grassely didn’t pull any punches in making it clear that the non-purchase of the specific name brands would have their own effect in dealing with the situation.
Now, before I get the response back from those who are quick to jump on a non-responsive government agency for failing to act with regulation – it should be noted that the current administration isn’t the same one of the much-maligned President Bush (which from what I’ve read on more than one occasion didn’t do the things they should have in regulating the snot out of any and all business enterprises). It would seem the current administration (despite their government can do anything and everything mode of operation) has also failed to resolve this situation (much like they didn’t do all that was needed doing when the Gulf Oil problem occurred).
Food safety is a serious issue and all attention possible is called for in first making certain that appropriate, science-based, production practices are carried out. That means having in place the necessary regulatory structure to oversee that the practices are applied. It also means having in place the systems to make random checks and trace-back problems as effectively as possible.
Farm Bureau policy has called for the streamlining of the process and putting the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in control, solely responsible, for food inspection and safety. In addition more research and development should be directed at dealing with the technology capabilities of improving food safety results.
There will be situations which happen (we don’t live in a perfect world with a zero-risk possibility) when problems will still need attention. In addition to full-force implementation of actions provided by law and regulatory oversight – the marketplace can and should be allowed to extract its retribution for those who have failed to measure up to the responsibility of meeting safety requirements.
Posted by Doug Busselman at 9/1/2010 11:15 AM 
Categories: Agriculture
Tags: Eggs Senator Charles Grassley Food Safety
Categories: Agriculture
Tags: Eggs Senator Charles Grassley Food Safety
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