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Fast-fingered con artists used to dupe people with
the old shell game at county fairs and carnivals, but the con has now gone
corporate and moved inside the offices of government regulators. Agribusiness powers are currently playing a shell
game with the “fresh” meat sold in stores across the country.
One clear sign of freshness that we consumers rely on is the meat’s
red color, right? Well, no more. The industry has come up with a
fast-fingered deception that keeps the meat red not just for a few days but
for months! The meat can go bad, but you won’t know it, because a
little spritz of carbon monoxide and other gases inside the plastic-wrapped
package prevents the telltale browning that’s a sign of spoilage.
In 2004, federal food regulators properly expressed
alarm that this gassing trick was a consumer deception that could mask
dangerous meat. But industry lobbyists quickly moved in and, only one month
later, the regulators reversed themselves, approving the perpetually red
meat for sale. Our so-called watchdogs did not conduct any studies, instead
relying on industry data. Nor did they bother notifying us consumers that
the redness of meat should no longer be trusted. At last Congress is moving to require that this
color-altered meat be labeled as such so that we consumers can make up our
own minds whether we want it. Once again, though, industry lobbyists are on
the prowl, claiming that such labels would be “alarmist” and
“unfair.”
Why unfair? Because, they say with a con man’s
sly grin, the regulators have approved the gassing process, so consumers
have no need to be informed! Thus the shell game comes full circle —
industry colors our meat to deceive us, writes the regulation to allow the
deception, then cites the regulation as reason to keep deceiving us.
Jim Hightower is a national radio commentator,
columnist, and author.
This article appears in Nov 1-7, 2007.
