Snipped from Alternet.org.

I have written Health Alert articles on this blog about the safety of our food supply and why we should be concerned. First and foremost is the fact that the FDA does not have the budget to inspect food at the level that protects the consumer. This is due to the fact that their budget was reduced by the current Bush philosophy of “buyer beware”. Buyer beware would work some of the time if only we were informed consumers. But when you don’t even know where your food comes from, it becomes increasingly difficult. The problem seems to have arisen due to the fact that the 2002 Farm Bill that required labelling for the origin of food was to go into effect in September of 2004. Well, guess what? It still hasn’t gone into effect. So, again, big business has won out over the consumer by buying off members of Congress. The amount of lobbying money will make you sick (if the food doesn’t first).

It is appalling to me that Agri-business lobbyists have wielded their power to the tune of millions of dollars in lobbying in keeping this law off the books and leaving the consumer blind when making food purchasing decisions. So what are our chances of ever getting the Country Of Origin Labeling or COOL bill enforced?

Here is a portion of the article that spells out what the poor consumer is up against.

Deep pockets influenced Washington as industry lobbyists blocked COOL with the exception of seafood. Lobbying expenditures by groups that opposed COOL between 2000 and 2004 include American Farm Bureau Federation spending $11,840,000 and Wal-Mart doling out $2,760,000. The Goliaths of Agribusiness undercut our right to know where our food comes from despite 82 percent consumer support for mandatory COOL.

Along with over 200 organizations, the National Family Farm Coalition sent a letter to Congress urging our elected officials to finally implement COOL as of September 2007 and end the backdoor delays. So while my T-shirt tag informs me it was made in Bangladesh, darn if I can place where the hamburger meat came from that is sizzling on my grill.

If you would like to read the full article click the image below.