On September 30th, six years after Congress originally passed the law, the United States will implement a country of origin labeling program for supermarket foods. But due to industry pressure, some of the most important and potentially dangerous products are exempt from being labeled.

Only 1.3% of imported food is inspected by the FDA, and of that small fraction, many hazardous items are confiscated. The average American consumes an estimated 260 pounds of imported food every year, which is roughly 13% of their diet. Food safety will always be a concern. Arming consumers with the knowledge of where their food comes from will not only help with everyday shopping, but also help in the case of a recall of a food from a specific region (like jalapeños from Mexico). While the new law has some benefits, many recent examples of food contamination and safety concerns show that it won’t do enough.[social_buttons]

1. The law does not apply to pet food. In 2007, contaminated gluten and rice protein from China was used to make pet food, resulting in the death of thousands of dogs and cats across America. The food was also used to feed pigs, chickens, and farmed fish which entered the human food supply, but no illnesses were reported. The same pet food would be exempt from the new labeling because only the ingredients were imported, not the final product. Mixtures do not apply under the law—not even fruit salad.

2. The law does not apply to dried foods or processed foods of any kind. Any processed food can avoid the label if it was shipped from a foreign country and then packaged in the United States. China was caught exporting dried apples preserved in a cancer-causing substance in 2007 and non-eviscerated dried fish in 2008, Indian imports of dried spices have been confiscated for salmonella contamination, and dried chili and other items from Mexico have been rejected as “filthy.”

3. The law does not apply to drugs. The FDA has dismissed requests to label pharmaceutical drugs with their country of origin, even after 19 people died from a tainted batch of the blood-thinning drug heparin from China.

4. The law does not apply to everyone. Only stores which purchased over $230,000 of fresh produce in the previous year will be required to label their red-meat, poultry, produce, and fish. This exempts butcher shops and fish markets from the law if they do not have a produce section.

5. The law does not always mandate accuracy. If a meat packer orders beef from five different countries within the same time period, the business is not required to keep track of which meat came from which country. A label could read: “Product of the United States, Mexico, Australia, Canada, or China.”

To its credit, the launch of the Country of Origin Label in the United States does improve the labeling of raw red meat and poultry, enabling consumers to make safer choices on these products. Other than that, this program can only serve as a reminder that globalization shouldn’t be a welcome guest at your dinner table; instead, try to eat locally-sourced foods, which not only tend to be safer, but are better for the environment.

Photo Credit:Afiler on Flickr under Creative Commons license.

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