January 23, 2004

Where Your Food Comes From

here are plenty of things wrong with the omnibus appropriations bill passed by the Senate yesterday afternoon. It was stuffed with pork. It had been doctored behind the scenes. It made a mockery of Congressional debate. And, almost as a matter of course, it represented the victory of powerful industry interests with political clout in the Bush administration. Among those interests were food processors and grocery chains, which succeeded in delaying a country-of-origin labeling plan authorized by the 2002 farm bill. That is a significant defeat for farmers and consumers alike.

The administration has carefully chosen which parts of the farm bill it wants to support. Some parts — notably commodity payments to big producers — have quickly gone into effect. But others, including country-of-origin labeling, have turned out to be empty promises.

The plan is simple. It would require retailers to identify the national origin of a number of food products, including most meat, fish, peanuts and fresh produce. But the omnibus bill would delay labeling for all products except wild fish for two years — a delay that could kill the law for good.

Shoppers face supermarkets full of food products from all around the globe without any way of being certain where they come from. Given the choice, many of those shoppers would choose to buy American, one big reason why farmers and consumer groups support labeling. The strongest opposition has come from retail grocery chains and food processor organizations, which argue that labeling would be a burdensome and costly imposition.

Polls have shown overwhelming consumer support for origin labeling, which is already practiced by many of America's agricultural trading partners. By itself, labeling would do nothing to diminish the need to improve food safety here and abroad, nor would it do anything to change the political and structural impediments to greater food safety. But it would have been another important step, at minimal cost, in helping to educate Americans about their food supply. Instead, we got a chance yesterday to see exactly what the major food industry groups want for American consumers. They want ignorance.