Thread: Labels Lack Food's Origin, Despite Law

Labels Lack Food's Origin, Despite Law

In every American supermarket, labels tell shoppers where their seafood came from. But there are no such labels for meat, produce or nuts.

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The New York Times

Behind the contradiction is a lesson in political power in Washington, where lobbyists and members of Congress have managed to hold off the enforcement of a five-year-old law that required country-of-origin labeling on meat and produce as well as fish.

Now, with Democrats in control of Congress and mounting questions about the safety of food imported from China, proponents of the labeling law say they believe that they finally have momentum on their side.

After all, they say, at a time when consumers are ever more concerned about where their food is coming from, why not just tell them on the package?

“No. 1, there’s a basic consumer right to know,â€

But the United Fishermen of Alaska tell a different story, saying that origin labeling has increased demand and prices for their wild salmon. And with the current concerns over Chinese seafood, labeling of seafood gives consumers the option to buy something else, advocates say.

Exactly right. If it says grown in America I'm more inclined to purchase it. Besides after all the crap that the Chinese are sending out, it's kind of scary.