Bad Food Nation

Eric Schlosser, author of non-fiction book Fast Food Nation was on Countdown with Keith Olberman tonight, and he mentioned just how deregulated our food system in America has become.

Apparently, during the 1970s, there were more than 34,000 health inspections in restaurants per year, which is horrible compared the the less than 3,500 that are going on each year now.

He hinted at the idea that our food system has been weakened by the big food lobbies, especially the beef and chicken lobbies, and - I would guess - the onion and scallin lobbies.

That's a load of crap. How are we supposed to trust these restaurants (especially one that I like so much, Taco Bell) when so little regulation is going on. I mean, I know a lot of the right-wingers out there are saying that the federal government has no business telling a company what it can or cannot serve, but this is ridiculous.

When it involves the public's safety, then I think it becomes an issue for the government. I'm sorry, guys, but it's just what I believe. It should absolutely be in the government's interest to keep harmful food off of the shelves.

Now, these attacks - is that the right nomanclature? - are few and far between but that is not the issue. We should still keep a very close eye on the quality of our food. It's just that simple. I don't care if there is a government committee or whatever to keep up with it, but we can't let our food get back to the pre-Upton Sinclair days simply because a few Honkey, Cracker, WASPS want to make a few million dollars on skimping regulations.