I eat, I drink, I breath
This makes air, water and food my absolute necessary things to survive. Everything else is secondary. So if someone starts messing with our air, our drink and our food we need to be alert. But governments mess around with our food all the time. See the latest stupidity when the US government declared that eating pizza is actually counting towards your daily vegetable portion (http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/wellbeing/5993939/Pizza-a-vegetable-says-US-Government). Pizza as a vegetable? Surely I can't see any benefit from this ruling for the eater, the food consumer. But I can certainly see a lot of benefits from this for the (processed) food industry.
Now our current government (which is still the old government, only way stronger now) came up with this Food Bill idea. It changes everything related to food in this country. Everything! Why do we need a new food law? Well according to Kate Wilkinson to bring our food safety system inline with WTO/ US / FDA/ USDA and some even drag the old Monsanto monster out of the closet. Fact is, the new food bill aligns our food system with the World TRADE Organisation which is closely linked to the US which - well you know that - just love cradling their babies like Monsanto etc
But what does it actually mean for you and me? Lets assume "you" are a simple (sorry!) consumer and "me" is a consumer but also a small business owner in the food area.
For "me" it means that my current licensed food premise will not be any longer, that I will have to prepare risk management plans, get them approved by MAF, the local council is out of the game completely. I am worried about increased bureaucracy and increase in cost and time. To be honest - and that;'s not a threat but rather reality - I work with such small margins that a considerable increase in cost and effort might even brake the infamous camel's back. And I would think that others are in the same position.
For "you" it might mean the disappearance of many small food businesses. A concentration on big players who usually produce some sort of processed food. Food businesses who grow their own and sell to the customers directly are kind of ok. Food businesses who process food or sell to retailers are worse off. Food businesses like us who buy in food (ingredients) and sell it to customers are also in a higher group meaning more regulations.
Meanwhile the media concentrates on the old "share a cucumber over the garden fence" issue and the "are seeds for sowing regarded as food?" question. These are not real issues with the food bill. But they are very useful to water down the whole discussion. Kind of like a fog bomb during a demonstration. Nobody really knows anymore what the real purpose was to demonstrate.
Another big concern is the power the Food Bill 2010 gives a Food Safety Officer. Maybe you have seen the video footage of US police performing closures and raids on food premises. Maybe this won't happen here. But be aware that a Food Safety Officer will be more powerful than a Police officer. A Food Safety Officer is allowed to enter any premises, confiscate any items including your private computer, vehicles, paper work etc. They can shut down any activity, food related or not. And they don't even need a warrant to do so. Is this what you want?
I don't want to tell people they should be against the food bill. What I want is to tell people that the food bill exists, what it is and to - please please! - make up your mind about it. And once you made up your mind and decide that this is not what you want, then please do something. Tell your MP, tell the media, go online, use twitter and facebook. Let me know. Let other people know. Please do something!
Thank you.
Now our current government (which is still the old government, only way stronger now) came up with this Food Bill idea. It changes everything related to food in this country. Everything! Why do we need a new food law? Well according to Kate Wilkinson to bring our food safety system inline with WTO/ US / FDA/ USDA and some even drag the old Monsanto monster out of the closet. Fact is, the new food bill aligns our food system with the World TRADE Organisation which is closely linked to the US which - well you know that - just love cradling their babies like Monsanto etc
But what does it actually mean for you and me? Lets assume "you" are a simple (sorry!) consumer and "me" is a consumer but also a small business owner in the food area.
For "me" it means that my current licensed food premise will not be any longer, that I will have to prepare risk management plans, get them approved by MAF, the local council is out of the game completely. I am worried about increased bureaucracy and increase in cost and time. To be honest - and that;'s not a threat but rather reality - I work with such small margins that a considerable increase in cost and effort might even brake the infamous camel's back. And I would think that others are in the same position.
For "you" it might mean the disappearance of many small food businesses. A concentration on big players who usually produce some sort of processed food. Food businesses who grow their own and sell to the customers directly are kind of ok. Food businesses who process food or sell to retailers are worse off. Food businesses like us who buy in food (ingredients) and sell it to customers are also in a higher group meaning more regulations.
Meanwhile the media concentrates on the old "share a cucumber over the garden fence" issue and the "are seeds for sowing regarded as food?" question. These are not real issues with the food bill. But they are very useful to water down the whole discussion. Kind of like a fog bomb during a demonstration. Nobody really knows anymore what the real purpose was to demonstrate.
Another big concern is the power the Food Bill 2010 gives a Food Safety Officer. Maybe you have seen the video footage of US police performing closures and raids on food premises. Maybe this won't happen here. But be aware that a Food Safety Officer will be more powerful than a Police officer. A Food Safety Officer is allowed to enter any premises, confiscate any items including your private computer, vehicles, paper work etc. They can shut down any activity, food related or not. And they don't even need a warrant to do so. Is this what you want?
I don't want to tell people they should be against the food bill. What I want is to tell people that the food bill exists, what it is and to - please please! - make up your mind about it. And once you made up your mind and decide that this is not what you want, then please do something. Tell your MP, tell the media, go online, use twitter and facebook. Let me know. Let other people know. Please do something!
Thank you.
If this is the way of the future, I'm heading back to my cave. Seriously, I am horrified by this - as one of the 99%, I already feel that my rights to live a responsible life the way I want to is being eroded daily - now, what I get to put into my mouth looks as though it may be compromised even further than it already is.
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