Along the Trail
There’s hope in federal appeals court.
"Along America’s Angus Trails" is trying to be grateful for the worm turning ever so slightly in animal agriculture’s favor in the regulatory wars with the do-gooders who seem to build whole careers out of making our lives more difficult.
The latest glimmer of hope came from an intrepid federal appeals court judge in California who ruled that the state has no right to ban the sale of foie gras, the appetizer delicacy made by force-feeding birds, which gourmets consider heaven and animal rightists consider hell.
The ruling essentially said California cannot ban agricultural products produced in other states that are legally sold under federal law. Attorney Michael Tenenbaum said, “The decision was based on the simple fact that, in the field of meat and poultry, federal law is supreme. California does not have the right to ban wholesome USDA-approved poultry products, whether it's foie gras or fried chicken.”
At last reading, environmentalists in the state were out picketing the white-tablecloth restaurants that dared to serve the delicacy.
A new study by the Rand Corp. think-tank of another favorite law of the food nannies who seek to protect us from ourselves shows that one of the nannie’s favorite whipping boys — fast-food restaurants — are either innocent, or at least neutral.
Fast-food restaurants, of course, continue to be the beef industry’s No. 1 customer in total tonnage of beef sold in the United States.
A much-hailed law that restricted the opening of new fast-food restaurants in one of the poorest sections of Los Angeles did not curb obesity or improve diets. A 2008 law banned free-standing fast-food restaurants in a 32-square-mile section of LA south of Interstate 10 that struggles with high obesity rates and other health problems.
Rand senior economist Roland Sturm said, “It had no meaningful effect. A single intervention would not reduce the obesity problem. People have to exercise and make lifestyle changes.”
These small victories are only the cause for modest celebration. There’s still plenty of other battles to fight and new ones emerging out of the shadows all the time.
Probably the biggest threat continues to be from the NO GMO (genetically modified organisms) grain folks, who continue to spread the myth that the planet’s health is endangered by such products. More and more restaurants, food manufacturers and organic food stores are demanding GMO-free products despite numerous, repeated USDA rulings that GMO products are safe.
It’s easy for cattlemen to pass it off, saying that’s their problem; I don’t raise any grain. Right.
Foodies like Chipotle Restaurant’s Steve Ells are demanding beef, pork and chicken that have been fed no GMO-containing grain. Like they say, “They’re coming our way!” Just to put an exclamation point on their demand, Chipotle has added GMO-free tofu shreds to its menu as an alternative to meat. The restaurants are currently not serving pork carnitas at all, stamping their menu with a bold "Unavailable," because there is a shortage of non-GMO raised pork.
John Q. Public? He continues to get ever-more creative to get around the food nanny barricades. In New York, where 12-ounce (oz.) sodas are banned, sales of 8-oz. sodas have soared as customers buy two, drinking 16 oz. of soda instead of a single dreaded, banned 12-oz. cup.
Like they say, the people are on our side. We just have to get to them, evading society’s filters.
Editor’s Note: Dan Green is a Denver-based historian, author, retired editor of the The Record Stockman and the voice of “Along America’s Angus Trails,” a regular feature on Angus Media’s SiriusXM satellite radio program, Angus Talk. Angus Talk airs at 10 a.m., Central time, every Saturday on Rural Radio, Channel 80.