Friday, July 25, 2008

Tracing Tomatoes

This AP story discusses the problems in tracing tomatoes from dirt to consumer. As I've said before, the desire for safe food doesn't observe the distinction between animal (National Animal Identification System or NAIS) and vegetable.. The further tomatoes advance, the more pressure on NAIS. Although there are those who fight tooth and nail against NAIS, IMHO they'd be better off to fight for graduated id--let the big producers be required to identify their animals, small producers not, unless they sell to a national distributor. It's a bureaucratic failing to apply the same rules to all, even when technology permits making finer distinctions.

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