bushgang says we can't know where our food comes from - really

[donsu]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=512&ncid=716&e=6&u=/ap/20031122/ap_on_go_co/congress_spending

Bargainers tying down the last details of a mammoth $390 billion spending bill agreed to block labels identifying which country food products come from for the next two years, lawmakers and aides said Saturday.

They also hammered out a compromise that could let California — but no other states — impose air pollution requirements on lawnmowers and other small engines that are tougher than federal standards.

The agreements, struck privately in back-room discussions all over the Capitol, came amid a push by congressional leaders to finish spending work that has been overdue since Oct. 1, when the new budget year began.

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Aides said they were still trying to decide how to pay for more than $4 billion added to the bill. That money is for Pell grants for low-income college students and other education programs; veterans' health care; modernized election equipment for state and local governments; and aid to countries that embrace democratic reforms.

The two-year delay on country-of-origin food labels will apply to meats, produce and farm-raised fish. The fish delay was a victory for Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., whose state has a major catfish farming industry. The labeling would begin, however, for wild fish — a boon for Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, where salmon are a major catch.
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crumble, crumble

[amazona]

1. how is this helping mississippi?

I think there is a typo in the article. Catfish farmers in Mississippi are being harmed, not helped, by competition from Vietnam and Brazil.

I wonder if shellfish is included in this. Nasty tasting shrimp and crawfish from China destroys the U.S. market in two ways -- by convincing people that these foods taste bad and by keeping the price too low. The Chinese crawfish is particularly bad but "popcorn" shrimp is no prize either.

[Old and In the Way]

2. Been on junk-draggers in the South China Sea

I was amazed with the "catch". Seaweed, trash, a few small silver fish, and the rest were shrimp. 3" long shrimp Boiled on board and seved fresh....they were simply awful.