Italy discovers tainted milk

..and ain't that a comforting thought?

It's Cheap!

It's Toxic!

Low prices while supplies last!

Hurry!

with all the asian supermarkets in NY, i'm sure you can find some tainted milk products for sale.

csmonut!

"Schlimbesserung."

It's a German term, a very cynical one, which translates to "worsening: by improvement."

Europe had to endure centuries of corrupt monarchist rule to realize the possible dimensions of this term.

Our version of 'improvement' came with the post WW2 belief that family farming must be curtailed and then stopped - for something "better."

Despite being hotly competitive that old kind of farming it was "inefficient." Why have 50 farms growing things when you could have 2? Or only one! A regional monopoly with enormous political and economic power

Why? Well how about tradition? How about regular seasonal employment? How about food quality and nutritional content? No? How about Competition?

Ah, no. All were forgotten in the beancounter rush to apply factory methods to animal husbandry and the most ancient of arts - growing things..

Emphasis, in corporate agriculture, as you point out was shifted to cost-cutting and yields. Because they were Costs safety factors got the heave ho. To increase yields all kinds of chemical soups bathed the "product" in toxins. Toxins which later showed up in the environment and in humans, worldwide. Toxins which flourished in places where their deregulation exceeded even our paltry standards - hence China's Milk problem.

Re-regulation? Yes let's end the crime wave. Regulations were meant to protect consumers and businesses from sharp practice cutting everyone's throats and endangering lives..

Re-investment in farming as a matter of National Security of food supply in time to anticipate global food problems? Yup. Is the proper time to guard against drought and crop failure in countries we depend upon, after or before, those conditions occur?

Breakup the agribusiness monopoly and the food price gouging of all the middlemen from the banks to the superstores?

Absolutely.

It wasn't long ago, that when a cow went down in feed lot or meat packing plant, that it was destroyed and the carcass burned.
Now, because of the bottom line, sick animals are put into the food chain.
No, we have no idea where much of our foodstuff comes from.
Yes, deregulation is one culprit, but the takeover of small businesses by conglomerates who only consider the bottom line, is the main culprit.
China is now having problems, factories are closing, people are being laid-off, and some are saying it is because of the meltdown in the US economy.
Maybe part of it is because people are becoming aware that without regulations in place to check the incoming products, they are no longer willing to spend their money.

If you want a crisis to encircle the globe and affect a disproportionate number of people - support deregulation and globalize it.

Hence what would have been a China-only problem affecting only those unlucky enough to be exposed to dangerous products instead reaches Australia, Italy, and who knows where else?

Add to that the affect of contamination on other makers of the same product.

In Canada recently 1 factory's meat inspection process failed. Following which there were several deaths and lots of reported illnessess.

Bad enough? No. Because so many meat products have an unknown origin - meaning the same factory could have processed them as well - meat products in general quickly went off the shelves. Brand makers with stellar reputations for quality were avoided - um, like the plague. Cost so far? unknown. Class action lawsuits? Could total 100's of millions of dollars.

To save companies the expense of rigorous inspections in came relaxed standards and a climate of deregulation. Which brought with it the problem of cost cutters looking to save even more money by further degrading inspection standards.

Were such negligence to result in consumers punishing only 1 company you could say that the market had worked. Instead, everybody got hit. And the entire industry became suspect.

Did this ever happen before deregulation and globalization? Ask your parents and grandparents and expect an earful..