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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHere’s why privatizing food inspection might not be the greatest idea
from Grist:
Heres why privatizing food inspection might not be the greatest idea
By John Upton
The U.S. government has been getting out of the food-inspection game in recent decades, replaced by a for-profit inspection industry thats rife with conflicts of interest. The risks of that arrangement became evident with Americas deadliest food-borne disease outbreak in almost a century.
In 2010, Primus Group food auditors visited a Colorado melon farm run by brothers Ryan and Eric Jensen. The company told the farming brothers how to install a new cooling system. In 2011, the inspectors returned and gave the flawed new system, which violated federal guidelines, a superior safety report.
Within a year, 33 cantaloupe consumers had died painful deaths after being infected with Listeria monocytogenes, a type of bacteria that was harbored by the brothers fruit. Federal investigators concluded that the installation of the new cooling system was a fatal flaw. .................................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://grist.org/news/heres-why-privatizing-food-inspection-might-not-be-the-greatest-idea/
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Here’s why privatizing food inspection might not be the greatest idea (Original Post)
marmar
Oct 2013
OP
yesphan
(1,588 posts)1. But, but that's not how the "free" market works.
If the brothers sell tainted food, then people buy the food, eat it and die, then people will stop buying their product
and take their business elsewhere.
That's how an "free" market is supposed to work, right ?
That's the ticket.
gopiscrap
(23,765 posts)2. Privatizing any government service is NEVER a good idea!!!
Last edited Tue Oct 22, 2013, 01:23 PM - Edit history (1)
Lizzie Poppet
(10,164 posts)3. But it worked so well for the Obamacare website!
Oh, wait...
Upside: I've been enjoying rubbing that fact in the noses of the RW cretins who point to the site's problems as an example of how "gummint always makes a mess of things."