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Turner Food and Drink Food for Thought: Wintertime wining and dining Cruelest Month: Poetry Blog Lifestyle Latest Stories Food for Thought: Give up gluten, but not all grains Part 17: Dawn answers the call of the Rogue Sirens Kitchen Call: Roasted pork, Tuscan style Book Notes: Essays on aging, from an aging poet Get A Life: The helping hand of humor Aging Happens Inner Peace Column Inner Peace Blog Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » Obituaries Photos Videos Blogs Business NEWS NOW Our View: Putting slash to work ... Ashland Calendar ... Guest Opinion: City hiring policy is fair, unbiased ... Our View: Putting slash to work ... Ashland Calendar ... Guest Opinion: City hiring policy is fair, unbiased ... Kent Bush: Food labels mean nothing Comment By Kent Bush More Content Now DailyTidings.com By Kent Bush More Content Now Posted Jan. 6, 2015 @ 6:42 am By Kent Bush More Content Now Posted Jan. 6, 2015 @ 6:42 am » Social News Why is food fraud acknowledged but not addressed? If someone added something to gasoline that made cars run poorly, people would be up in arms and legislators would take action. If a journalist copies even part of a sentence without attribution, their credibility is destroyed and future employment is in question. But companies can falsify ingredients in food that put people at risk, and no one seems to care. I understand that the political pendulum is swinging toward deregulation and a more efficient government. I am a big fan of being frugal. There is no reason to waste money. But it seems like there is a better way to increase efficiencies than ignoring food fraud. The Food and Drug Administration has some regulatory authority and some recent moves have forced restaurants to list calorie counts on menus. But consumers still have no idea what they are buying when they go to a restaurant or grocery store. Reading the label means nothing. The U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) keeps a public database at foodfraud.org that documents instances of adulterated products or falsified labels. They added more than 800 products to that database last year. That’s right. There are 800 new products in addition to a frighteningly large database. Manufacturers are cheating the system in order to maximize profit margins. Spending extra money on “the good stuff” at a store is no guarantee. When you buy fancy extra-virgin olive oil so that you can cook like your favorite chef, there is a chance you could be getting a blend of walnut or canola oil instead of the high quality product you expect. Thankfully it was only in China where the olive oil was cut with waste oil, but there are more local cases where olive oil is mixed with lard that was used as a cheap filler. Some people tout the benefits of the trendy virgin coconut oil. They are sometimes feeling the health effects of some blend of coconut and palm oil. Milk is diluted, spices are mixed with fillers, and fish are mislabeled to get around FDA warnings and prohibitions. How many people enjoyed college and professional football games last weekend with a big bowl of chili flavored with “chili powder” that was full of dried beets to add the characteristic red color without spending the extra money on chili powders? We have the infrastructure in place to prevent a significant portion of these frauds. But cost cutting has knocked the teeth out of the FDA. We’re saving money in the wrong way. It is time to push the political pendulum back in the direction of food safety and purity. We owe it to ourselves to demand it from our leaders. By Kent Bush More Content Now DailyTidings.com By Kent Bush More Content Now Posted Jan. 6, 2015 @ 6:42 am » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. calendar Connect with DailyTidings.com Facebook Twitter RSS Back to top Reader Services Reader Services home Subscriptions Subscriber controls Contact us Submissions Photos Events Letters to the editor Corrections Alerts Email alerts RSS feeds Text Alerts Advertise Media Kit Home Products and services Ad rates Advertising contacts Mail Tribune Daily Tidings The Nickel Shop Our Valley Blogs Stay Informed Email newsletter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Your privacy is important, read our privacy policy. © Copyright 2015 Local Media Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 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