Lest anyone thinks we’re being paranoid about how some foodie activists are trying to control what consumers may and may not eat, let us present “Exhibit A”: the newest press release from the finger-wagging Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI).
CSPI’s food-safety director Caroline Smith DeWaal cites this week’s egg recall as a mandate for putting literal food cops in a position of power:
This outbreak demonstrates the need for a food safety cop-on-the-beat. FDA needs a strong inspection force with the tools to mandate recalls, impose civil and criminal penalties, and require testing at farms and production facilities. The agency should be able to impose fines for violations when they find them, detain and recall food, and impose enhanced criminal penalties when companies intentionally violate the law, resulting in harm to the public.
And let’s take a guess: CSPI is just the organization for the job.
We’ve been hammering CSPI for years for its overzealous scaremongering tactics, and its habit of meddling with food manufacturers through lawsuits and tax initiatives. But before the federal government considers appointing a Constable of Comestibles, legislators should remember that public-health activists aren’t infallible. Remember: CSPI was for trans fats before it was against them.
Food activists would love nothing better than to dictate the American diet, whether in the name of food safety or just to flex their authoritarian muscles. And now the food-elite movement’s mother ship wants the power to actually do it. Proposing a federal law to empower an “inspection force” is a naked power grab to grant the foodie fringe carte blanche over the food supply. The only surprising news is that CSPI is being so honest about it.
