Posted on 07/11/2007 9:05:26 PM PDT by kellynla
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. consumers overwhelmingly support stricter food labeling laws, with 92 percent of Americans wanting to know which country produced the food they are buying, a consumer magazine said on Tuesday.
Consumer Reports said recent food scares, including worries about peanut butter and lettuce, have made Americans more interested in knowing not only how their food was produced but where it was made.
"I was definitely shocked at how high these numbers were," said the study's coauthor Dr. Urvashi Rangan, a senior scientist and policy analyst at Consumers Union, the nonprofit organization that publishes Consumer Reports magazine.
"It's much like a nutrition label or an ingredient label in that it needs to be part of the general information coming in about imported foods," she added.
The poll was conducted with 1,004 telephone interviews between June 7 and June 10.
Last month, USDA said it would reopen public comment to its so-called "country-of-origin" labeling measure until August 20.
Congress enacted the meat-labeling requirement as part of a 2002 law but has twice delayed the start date, now set for September 30, 2008.
CAMPAIGN ISSUE?
Meatpackers and grocers as well as some farm groups say the labeling law will create an expensive record-keeping headache to track each piece of meat from the slaughter plant to grocery shelf. Other farm groups side with consumer groups in saying shoppers deserve to know if meat is imported or U.S.-grown.
Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards released on Tuesday a package of safety proposals for imported foods, including making country-of-origin labeling mandatory.
"It's time to stop the delays and stop giving in to big agribusiness and food importers," said Edwards.
In recent months, the United States has uncovered safety problems with imports of Chinese seafood, toothpaste and melamine-contaminated wheat gluten that was added into U.S. feed for pets, pigs, chickens and fish.
"It is increased oversight and serious inspections (that) will move us in the right direction," said Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer of New York.
The Consumer Reports study found 86 percent of those surveyed expect the "natural" label to mean that processed foods do not contain artificial ingredients. Still, the group said many manufacturers call their products natural foods even though they contain artificial sugars and oils.
The results also showed that 91 percent of consumers said "organic" fish should be produced without environmental pollution and be low in contaminants such as mercury and PCBs. There currently are no government guidelines in place for organic seafood.
Consumers Union, the Center for Food Safety and Food and Water Watch plan to file a complaint and petition on Wednesday with the U.S. Agriculture Department and Federal Trade Commission to prevent manufacturers from labeling seafood as organic until a government definition is established.
“I was definitely shocked at how high these numbers were,” said the study’s coauthor Dr. Urvashi Rangan,”
I’d have been shocked if there wasn’t tremendous concern.
same here given the amount of problems with meat, etc coming out of these countries. It is not like the world is in love with us. I wouldn’t put poisoning past any of these guys.
Business has been fighting this for a long time. Now with the China food scare the public has awakened to the dangers. I am hoping it is more evidence of an American public that is willing to start exercising some control over our own lives again.
“I wouldn’t put poisoning past any of these guys.”
The Chicoms have been poisoning pet food and toothpaste for some time
The US produces all of the grains at the bottom of the food pyramid vastly more efficiently than anybody else does. In particular, I cannot believe there is any legal way in which anybody could import any kind of meat or grain products from China and do anything other than lose money. I view all such food import business as criminal activity.
I’m amazed 8% were opposed.
And how would consumers know when dining out?
It's not the expense they object to, it's the fact that imported meat won't sell as well if it's identified.
Thanks, I’ll check it out tomorrow.
They’re getting ready to blow Taps here. LOL
Nytol,
Kelly
“And how would consumers know when dining out?”
They wouldn’t...exactly why we’re eating in more.
With a farm behind my house and five miles from the ocean;
there’s really no reason to eat out! LOL
Head in jackass.
Current business food importers and the current adminstration guarantee that all food sold in the US comes from planet Earth.
I was in an Albertson’s today and saw scallops and other items in plastic packages, priced 10 for $10.
They were smallish packages. On the back was marked PRODUCT OF CHINA.
No sale.
We must be sure that Country Of Origin Labeling (COOL) does not get swept away by political agendas.
And we don’t need RFID or NAIS to do it either.
Transparency and public accountability will be sufficient.
I say all food products.
Fish too.
Even a sign like in the fish dept would work.
Their headache our health.
They are earning enormous margins on imported foods...and these laws will drop the prices on imported foods to the floor.
US producers will gain big-time.
If you have land, buy cows and start producing beef. No longer will we see first-rate US beef sold at auction for $.73/pound. It'll be over $1.00 by this time next year...at least.
Fish (raw) is already required to have COOL (Country Of Origin ) labels.
Yes - sections of the fish industry fought it too.
We have a fish market in our fishing community that takes it one step further.
They write not only the COOL but the name of the fishing vessel.
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