Posted on 06/04/2010 4:31:40 PM PDT by Artemis Webb
Whew. It will be safe to go back into the kitchen.
Ridiculous and a continuation of the dumbing down of the American public.
Caveat emptor - always.
The federal government has no constitutional power to regulate food. Regardless of Supreme Court ruling.
That law that every statist here is quoting was put into effect under the administration of FDR. You know, FDR, that conservative icon of freedom and limited government.
Just because it's been around for almost a century doesn't make it constitutional.
/johnny
The market solves this problem without any government interference at all.
Fraud is always illegal. Now that the G is involved you'll see even more collusion and higher prices.
I'm a believer in the dicta that with work and attention agriculturalists can improve plant products over time. Spain wins (at the moment).
Excellent re-tort (pun intended).
So each state must regulate whether Planters Deluxe Mix has no peanuts? Each state must regulate if Vitamin C tablets have any vitamin C? Each state must regulate if motor oil meets the standards for a particular grade?
That is ludicrous!
Caveat emptor indeed! How do you keep track of all the things you buy? How can you make decisions on what to buy? There are standards now ... but if there were none?
Tessio turned, but Clemenza? He seemed to personally like Michael.
Exactly my point. This is something that cannot be done by the average consumer. 1010RD says, "let the buyer beware", this is something I agree with most of the time but the "buyer" would need a chemistry set and a degree in chemistry to figure out what is in their olive oil.
We don't need government for standards.
That is a free market function.
No UL listing? No sale. No ASTM standard on the oil can? No sale.
/johnny
This is the flaw in many FReepers otherwise conservative thinking. What is "extra virgin" olive oil?
You never need to know. Mavens study the issue (look up "mavens" and see how important they are to commerce and liberty) and then you can investigate it if it is important to you.
Otherwise it really isn't an issue. If widespread fraud is occurring and extra virgin means nothing, then consumers will react correctly.
You cannot correct for every flaw and some torts are beneath notice.
Extra virgin: Your teen-aged girlfriend’s kid sister wants to tag along.
That’s how I make mine every morning, but there’s three in the pan and some onions too!
If there's no standard, there's no fraud. Currently, from a legal perspective, "extra virgin" has the same legal relevance as "tasty". It's meaningless. Are you going to sue someone for fraud if your snack isn't "tasty", although that's how it was marketed? You might, but you won't prevail at trial.
Since there's no legal standard defining what is or is not "extra virgin", everything is extra virgin. You have no basis for a fraud claim, even if what you were sold isn't remotely extra virgin.
I have not had a first press that I did not like but I doubt that I have been exposed to lives that bad.
Your premise that first press is for phonies is wrong. The first press of a batch of olives is the best of that batch ... that is, if you like the fresh full olive flavor. Not everyone does. I do as do many others.
But to write off anyone who likes extra virgin as a phony silly.
As a personal anecdote, a few years ago while in Central Park, I saw Abe Vigoda quietly amble in and sit on a park bench ... I thought about going over, sit next to him, and say “I always thought it would be Clemenza”, but I didn’t have the nerve to do it. Oh well, would’ve been kinda amusing anyway :) He probably gets that sort of thing all the time and would have a laugh about it too
Or go with the International Olive Oil Council standards, and not buy a product that doesn't have their imprimatur.
But that's not a federal government agency, so that doesn't mean anything to the statists on FR.
/johnny
What about food? Do you care what is in it? Or are you willing to be hoodwinked? As long as you can sue, of course.
I also believe in truth in advertising.
No need to sue. Let’s imagine you and I buy ACME Vitamin C for $10 each bottle. On a lark we test it and find out it isn’t vitamin C what will happen?
1. We stop buying ACME brand and tell all our friends.
2. We could sue ACME under class action for damages.
3. 1. or 2. would end ACME as a company and vitamin producer.
4. The publicity would put other manufacturers on notice.
5. They’d respond by either leaving the market or using their true vitamin C content as a selling point backed up by a private testing lab - a la UL.
No government intervention, except a fair, swift and objective judicial system.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.