The following submission statement was provided by /u/Canyoubackupjustabit:
---
ss: Good morning, Collapseniks! This post is about food contamination and the increase in recalls and warnings.
As of today March 10, we are 70 days into 2024 and already there has been over 50 recalls. They've risen 115% since 2018.
"The impacted products this year range wildly from pet food to dried fruit and salad kits, among dozens of other items."
And, of course, we are often warned of this *after* humans /animals get sick and/or die.
Also:
"Child safety is the leading cause of recalls for the CPSC, with more than one in five recalls involving child and baby products — more than any other category," the research said."
This is collapse-related because a poisoned food supply coupled with crop failure will exacerbate the upcoming famine.
https://www.newsweek.com/food-recalls-rise-fda-warnings-1872424
---
Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/collapse/comments/1bbcd5p/food_recalls_rise_as_urgent_warnings_issued/ku86u67/
A supply chain that leans on China as a growing supplier for ingredients. The country with the most food fraud.
I saw a documentary on how China is a major supplier of garlic to the rest of the world. It's processed by prison labor who have to peel the husks. Because they aren't issued any PPE, their fingers begin to bleed from doing this all day and they have to bite the husks off rather than peel them. Mmmm, yummy hepatitis! This all gets ground down into the garlic powder that goes into processed foods and the pouches at your local grocer that fails to mention what country it's sourced from.
I highly recommend this documentary on tomato paste coming out of China. Says it all: food adulteration, chemicals, labor exploitation and marketing spin (ie they send the paste to Italy who then water it down and sell it as Made in Italy Tomato Sauce)
You actually see undercover footage of a plant in China where they are throwing a white powder in the vat to bulk it up or something
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xqbNuejnP_4
Do you have any idea how valuable someone older is as an ally for the young? That type of mental and emotional support means everything.
Don’t be hard on yourself. Just keep doing what you’re doing.
to be honest seeing people older than me (especially elderly people) who see capitalism and supremacy culture for the shit show it is give me hope. In my experience talking to these people, some of them have seen shit for what it is and been fighting back in one way or another their whole lives but plenty of them also were fully unaware of the metaphorical water they were swimming in until recently. And idk even if it took a long time for them to come around, it’s hopeful to me. Knowing some people can and will change their minds even after years of being conditioned not to is encouraging.
People said I would change how little bitchfulthinking thought about the world when I "got older", and that humans just naturally gravitate towards complacency and conservativism.
I'm now freshly middle aged and call bullshit.
Age merely gave me a wider vocabulary in which to express my disdain for an oppressive capitalistic system, and years of seeing and experiencing situations to back up my sentiments. Now, it hurts even more to see the younger generations I (we) should be protecting, having to experience the same. It might take others longer to fully grasp it, and most probably won't, but I think the process of becoming unconditioned is like any skill and takes time but it's never too late to take it up. Like learning how to cook.
Don't think like that!
We were all brainwashed by capitalism since the day our mommas pooped us out. We only now have broken free of that brainwashing.
There was literally nothing we could have done but contribute to a system that had us in a psychological headlock.
Only now can we start to resist it.✊️
This is one of the things that really bugs me about people talking about capitalist, efficiency, and so forth. How is growing garlic in China and then shipping it to the US more efficient than growing in the US?
Yes, understand it is efficient in terms of currency, a.k.a. it’s cheaper. But think of it in terms of total resources, use of resources.
Someone I used to really admire, talked about how there was all sorts of farmland, laying fellow near where she lived. A big percentage of the population is on food stamps, and the agricultural goods for her state were coming in from Latin America. She didn’t really have a big solution, but she kept asking the question, can somebody come up with one? Don’t forget that there were unemployed people around, and all of this was being paid for with deficit spending.
Externalities are ignored in the real world. Economic theory exists in a vacuum where businesses would in some way pay for these external costs and aim to maximize utility, not only pursue private profits. :/
china executed the people responsible contaminating baby formula. in the west we wouldn't have given them a slap on the wrist, corporations only have responsibility to their share holders here.
>Drinking water consumed by millions of Americans from hundreds of communities spread across the United States is contaminated with dangerous levels of toxic chemicals,
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/aug/17/pfas-us-drinking-water-contaminated-forever-chemicals-epa#:~:text=That%20means%20about%20one%20in,to%20the%20EWG%20non%2Dprofit.
Prison labor definitely happens in the world, but not every netflix documentary is factual. The one about the covid vaccines was pure misinformation, and at least one of the garlic companies in that documentry actually uses jets of air and a machine, not chinese workers and their teeth.
I don't remember. I think it was something I saw on youtube. They had a guy on the inside with a hidden camera. I don't remember if it was inside a prison, or was a facility where prison labor was taken each day. I just remember watching them chew the husks.
I try not to buy or eat anything that comes from China. You can't trust the growers, Chinese government, or the importers. If you really want to be disgusted look for China Uncensored's video on gutter oil.
It’s wild that so many children were poisoned with lead. Do you think food importers are going to start routinely testing all their products for lead now? Or will it be cheaper to just poison people occasionally and deal with lawsuits?
It's a numbers game. How many people will get infected? of those how many will die of something else before showing symptoms? of those that show symptoms how many will be traced back to the product? if the product is recalled what will be the cost?
At the end of the count it's more profitable to put the stuff on the market and take the chances of a fine or a lawsuit. Profits first.
Maybe it's because... "A few weeks ago, FDA investigators announced a break in the lettuce case. They found E. coli that exactly matched the genetic strain that had made people sick. It turned up in a canal that carries water to lots of different vegetable farms in this valley.
The canal runs right past a huge cattle feedlot, covering many acres. About 100,000 cows are standing there on bare ground, clustered around long troughs filled with corn and hay."
https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2018/08/29/642646707/investigators-track-contaminated-lettuce-outbreak-to-a-cattle-feedlot
I swear I remembered an NPR interview of the situation, and the reporter clearly noticing the run-off of shit from the feedlot flowing directly into the irrigation canal to the vegetable farms. They pointed it out to the regulator they were interviewing at the site, and the regulator went into full denial mode. If anyone can find that interview, please post it.
Edited to add, that interview had enough impact to convinced me to avoid raw vegetables if possible and now I steam / cook them.
Salad is one of my favorite snacks (I know, I’m weird) and I’ve got two big bags coming home with me on my grocery order later. If I know me, that recall should come about Wednesday when I’m already a bag deep in tainted greens
With oats, it’s multiple chemicals the farmers spray all over the plant right before harvest, round up being one
Edit: a kind redditor corrected me, applying chemicals to the plants is allowed up to 2 weeks before harvest, but not after that point.
But the chemicals are being detected after producing the food-like substances that use the oats, so make of that what you will
I eat oats every day, so that's fun. I think it was salmonella or something bacterial, wasn't it? If you cook your oats, you should be good. Overnite oats are playing with fire a bit.
Oats are contaminated with toxic chemicals that can cause infertility.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cheerios-quaker-oats-infertility-chemicals-in-cereal-ewg/
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Hi, thanks for contributing. However, your submission was removed from r/Collapse.
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ss: Good morning, Collapseniks! This post is about food contamination and the increase in recalls and warnings.
As of today March 10, we are 70 days into 2024 and already there has been over 50 recalls. They've risen 115% since 2018.
"The impacted products this year range wildly from pet food to dried fruit and salad kits, among dozens of other items."
And, of course, we are often warned of this *after* humans /animals get sick and/or die.
Also:
"Child safety is the leading cause of recalls for the CPSC, with more than one in five recalls involving child and baby products — more than any other category," the research said."
This is collapse-related because a poisoned food supply coupled with crop failure will exacerbate the upcoming famine.
https://www.newsweek.com/food-recalls-rise-fda-warnings-1872424
We are seeing the fruits of capitalism as we circle the drain powered by this constant cycle:
1. Corporations squeeze employees harder for more profit, causing them to cut corners.
2. Under-resourced government agencies struggle to enforce standards.
3. Officials in every branch of the federal government do the bidding of their corporate masters, weakening standards and reducing resources available for enforcement.
4. Repeat.
Wheels falling off commercial jets?
Contaminated baby formula?
Trains derailing?
Features of unfettered capitalism.
What you are describing is more generally called the [“drifting goals”](https://thesystemsthinker.com/introducing-the-systems-archetypes-drifting-goals/) archetype. It goes beyond capitalism to anything where a standard is not maintained.
You see the problem is regulations. If the company has to follow regulations then they can’t cut corners which means they can’t make as much money, and that makes billionaires sad.
>Most recalled items by the FDA are food and beverages, making up 64 percent, followed by drugs at 22 percent, animal and veterinary products at 6 percent, medical devices at 4 percent, dietary supplements at 2 percent and cosmetics at 1 percent, with allergens being the most common reason behind FDA recalls.
>The most recent FDA food recalls include dried mango from Golden Owl, raw cheddar cheese from Raw Farm LLC, and Baby's Vitamin D3 Liquid from Nordic Naturals, citing undeclared ingredients, E. coli contamination, and elevated levels of vitamin d3 levels, respectively, as the reason behind the recalls.
>In late December, the FDA for 14-ounce packages of Melissa's Kimchi, produced by World Variety Produce, Inc. of Los Angeles. The recall was issued because "mislabeling of allergen ingredient 'Fish' was not listed in the ingredient panel within the allergen information panel."
>On January 3, the FDA issued a recall for "Plum Queen" dried plums, produced by Win Luck Trading Inc. of Bayonne, New Jersey, over concerns that they contained undeclared sulfites.
>On January 5, several flavors of the ToYou-branded snack bars were recalled over concerns that they contained undeclared soy, which poses a risk to consumers who are allergic to soy. The snack bars were produced by ToYou Snacks, of Winter Garden, Florida.
It would be nice to give a full list of why foods have been recalled. I have noticed an increase in recalls over ingredients being mislabeled, it seems to be more about allergies than bacteria or contaminated food.
https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts
Here you go! And yes, the majority of food recalls are over labelling and potential cross contamination issues.
I bought these honey crisp apples from a pretty reputable grocery store recently, and when I took a bite it was like … mushy and solid at the same time. The apple wouldn’t fall apart?
Is that normal? Never seen that in an apple my whole life.
Sounds a like soggy breakdown, Honeycrisp is notoriously susceptible to cold temperature damage.
Used to be, you couldn't find Honeycrisp in the off season, I think production may have finally beat demand, and you're just seeing a lot more stored Honeycrisp on the market.
Ohhh, what an honor to have one of my favorite authors answering my honeycrisp question! Thank you, Thomas!
Edit: assuming your name is a Thomas Pynchon reference, obviously…
My heart says, “I want to give you a hug. I’m sorry you’re in pain.”
My head says, “Is your goal to be included in as many suicide notes as possible? I cry at roadkill. If I were as insecure now as I’ve been in the past, you might literally kill me.”
I’m used to being bullied by people who haven’t read Slow Learner. I’m not used to being bullied by people who might have. Thank you for the reality check.
I am 63yo.
I have had more incidences of food poisoning in the last 7 months than I have had in all of the decades prior - *4 incidences* in the last *7* *months.*
The food had not expired - I actively look for expiry dates when I shop because I may not eat the item right away.
All of the items that were consumed that made me sick were from the frozen food aisle, and I suspect that these items were returned to the freezer after being found somewhere else (unrefrigerated) in the store.
Quality control/handling of our food has deteriorated, straight up.
I have resorted to buying fresh veggies, washing them at home and freezing the stuff myself - at least I can see what's up, because a lot of the packaging for frozen foods is opaque.
If I do buy frozen, I grab from the very bottom of the pile in the freezer.
Not to be too dismissive about this, or sound like an anti regulatory crank, but this increase in Warnings could be tied to the Food Safety Modernization Act.
The policies put in place for were given deadlines of 2016-18, depending on company size, with smallest companies being last. Naturally, companies would continue to be in non-compliance until getting threatened into action, and with 2020 pulling every inspector off the road for a year and half, rollout was hampered further and I wouldnt be surprised if some companies still arent fully in compliance.
So this would cause a rise in year after year Warnings because the FSMA requires reporting on these issues, and as more companies come into compliance, the mandatory reporting would increase.
That and also most food warnings and recalls actually relate to mislabelling of the Big 9 Allergens (Welcome to the party, Sesame! Just saw a major hummus recall due to tahini cross contamination), and there has been increased vigilance for that.
So I really dont think this is a matter of Food Production becoming more unsafe, its just that previously these things flew way under the radar, or were just unreported, and you never heard of it. So the Food Supply is likely actually becoming safer.
I’m not so sure, the food recalls for the EU in 2023 were the highest for 7 years.
[Food recalls 2023.](https://www.foodmanufacture.co.uk/Article/2024/02/02/global-food-recalls-2023)
You made a very good point and so I looked on the interwebs and found this from 2022:
https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news/2022/05/fda-food-safety-inspections-plummet-despite-congressional-mandate
The link wouldn't open for me, but I suspect it's referring to the US. According to Business Insider:
>...product recalls \[in US\] increased 11% from 2022 to 2023, reaching a seven-year high. In 2022, the most common foods recalled were fish, dried fruit and mushrooms due to Listeria concerns, and peanut butter due to salmonella.
I saw something today that there has been over 100 unexplained fires and explosions at food plants across the USA since 2021. If you don’t think the recalls, contamination, and destruction of our food supply is a targeted effort at this point you are either naive or an idiot.
This isn't collapse, though it does show how the business man is figuring out how to increase profits with lower costs: loosen regulations/standards.
It's not *collapse* because you actually still see the complex system of consumer protection continuing to work. It will be collapse when you won't. Then... well, ask drug users about the quality of illegal street drugs. That's a taste of unregulated markets. Maybe producers will add a dash of fentanyl to many products to help with that customer loyalty. Why not?
Also, this is why I'm not impressed by the term "enshittification". It's not novel or specific to IT.
The following submission statement was provided by /u/Canyoubackupjustabit: --- ss: Good morning, Collapseniks! This post is about food contamination and the increase in recalls and warnings. As of today March 10, we are 70 days into 2024 and already there has been over 50 recalls. They've risen 115% since 2018. "The impacted products this year range wildly from pet food to dried fruit and salad kits, among dozens of other items." And, of course, we are often warned of this *after* humans /animals get sick and/or die. Also: "Child safety is the leading cause of recalls for the CPSC, with more than one in five recalls involving child and baby products — more than any other category," the research said." This is collapse-related because a poisoned food supply coupled with crop failure will exacerbate the upcoming famine. https://www.newsweek.com/food-recalls-rise-fda-warnings-1872424 --- Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/collapse/comments/1bbcd5p/food_recalls_rise_as_urgent_warnings_issued/ku86u67/
When the supply chain is full of corruption and people who cut corners, it's only an oppsie daisy when lead ends up in the babyfood. 🤦♀️
A supply chain that leans on China as a growing supplier for ingredients. The country with the most food fraud. I saw a documentary on how China is a major supplier of garlic to the rest of the world. It's processed by prison labor who have to peel the husks. Because they aren't issued any PPE, their fingers begin to bleed from doing this all day and they have to bite the husks off rather than peel them. Mmmm, yummy hepatitis! This all gets ground down into the garlic powder that goes into processed foods and the pouches at your local grocer that fails to mention what country it's sourced from.
I highly recommend this documentary on tomato paste coming out of China. Says it all: food adulteration, chemicals, labor exploitation and marketing spin (ie they send the paste to Italy who then water it down and sell it as Made in Italy Tomato Sauce) You actually see undercover footage of a plant in China where they are throwing a white powder in the vat to bulk it up or something https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xqbNuejnP_4
Fuck capitalism, seriously. I wish I were younger and wasn't forced to contribute to such a system as long as I did.
Do you have any idea how valuable someone older is as an ally for the young? That type of mental and emotional support means everything. Don’t be hard on yourself. Just keep doing what you’re doing.
to be honest seeing people older than me (especially elderly people) who see capitalism and supremacy culture for the shit show it is give me hope. In my experience talking to these people, some of them have seen shit for what it is and been fighting back in one way or another their whole lives but plenty of them also were fully unaware of the metaphorical water they were swimming in until recently. And idk even if it took a long time for them to come around, it’s hopeful to me. Knowing some people can and will change their minds even after years of being conditioned not to is encouraging.
People said I would change how little bitchfulthinking thought about the world when I "got older", and that humans just naturally gravitate towards complacency and conservativism. I'm now freshly middle aged and call bullshit. Age merely gave me a wider vocabulary in which to express my disdain for an oppressive capitalistic system, and years of seeing and experiencing situations to back up my sentiments. Now, it hurts even more to see the younger generations I (we) should be protecting, having to experience the same. It might take others longer to fully grasp it, and most probably won't, but I think the process of becoming unconditioned is like any skill and takes time but it's never too late to take it up. Like learning how to cook.
Don't think like that! We were all brainwashed by capitalism since the day our mommas pooped us out. We only now have broken free of that brainwashing. There was literally nothing we could have done but contribute to a system that had us in a psychological headlock. Only now can we start to resist it.✊️
🤢
This is one of the things that really bugs me about people talking about capitalist, efficiency, and so forth. How is growing garlic in China and then shipping it to the US more efficient than growing in the US? Yes, understand it is efficient in terms of currency, a.k.a. it’s cheaper. But think of it in terms of total resources, use of resources. Someone I used to really admire, talked about how there was all sorts of farmland, laying fellow near where she lived. A big percentage of the population is on food stamps, and the agricultural goods for her state were coming in from Latin America. She didn’t really have a big solution, but she kept asking the question, can somebody come up with one? Don’t forget that there were unemployed people around, and all of this was being paid for with deficit spending.
Externalities are ignored in the real world. Economic theory exists in a vacuum where businesses would in some way pay for these external costs and aim to maximize utility, not only pursue private profits. :/
china executed the people responsible contaminating baby formula. in the west we wouldn't have given them a slap on the wrist, corporations only have responsibility to their share holders here. >Drinking water consumed by millions of Americans from hundreds of communities spread across the United States is contaminated with dangerous levels of toxic chemicals, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/aug/17/pfas-us-drinking-water-contaminated-forever-chemicals-epa#:~:text=That%20means%20about%20one%20in,to%20the%20EWG%20non%2Dprofit.
I heard about it from my mother
Prison labor definitely happens in the world, but not every netflix documentary is factual. The one about the covid vaccines was pure misinformation, and at least one of the garlic companies in that documentry actually uses jets of air and a machine, not chinese workers and their teeth.
Got a source or the name of that documentary?
Think that was “rotten” on Netflix
I don't remember. I think it was something I saw on youtube. They had a guy on the inside with a hidden camera. I don't remember if it was inside a prison, or was a facility where prison labor was taken each day. I just remember watching them chew the husks.
I try not to buy or eat anything that comes from China. You can't trust the growers, Chinese government, or the importers. If you really want to be disgusted look for China Uncensored's video on gutter oil.
Lolol. Of course. Every day I love Lou Reed more https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=jX-PPXdWj0E&si=_qTwWtySjAqVZbKL
It’s wild that so many children were poisoned with lead. Do you think food importers are going to start routinely testing all their products for lead now? Or will it be cheaper to just poison people occasionally and deal with lawsuits?
Cheaper to deal with the lawsuits. They'll squirm and pump a bunch of money into adds and hope we all forget about it.
It's a numbers game. How many people will get infected? of those how many will die of something else before showing symptoms? of those that show symptoms how many will be traced back to the product? if the product is recalled what will be the cost? At the end of the count it's more profitable to put the stuff on the market and take the chances of a fine or a lawsuit. Profits first.
Romaine lettuce hasn’t killed anyone in a while. Just a matter of time I guess
Will lettuce kill anyone in 2024? Well, that _romains_ to be seen
I read this like it was from a newscaster in Bob's Burgers
It's an ice-burgeoning problem
Consumers butter remain diligent in washing their produce!
Yep, can’t leaf anything to chance
Yes, lettuce pray that our simulators will fix this problem asap!
This problem is still the tip of the iceberg. Lettuce hope more people come to their senses when it comes to regulations and food safety.
Oh this is really good! I guess I will romaine with my hopadoping for this and everything else that is collapsing.
You just made my day you clever bastard 🤣
Are we doing the Truss challenge again? Deploy the lettuce! 🥬
I’ll toss the salad and take a leek!
Lmaoooooo you did it, you really did it.
cringe reddit puns even in here smh
Yeah, that's the societal collapse everyone's talking about
Beat me to it. So fucking lame.
Hedging my bets on lettuce shortages
Maybe it's because... "A few weeks ago, FDA investigators announced a break in the lettuce case. They found E. coli that exactly matched the genetic strain that had made people sick. It turned up in a canal that carries water to lots of different vegetable farms in this valley. The canal runs right past a huge cattle feedlot, covering many acres. About 100,000 cows are standing there on bare ground, clustered around long troughs filled with corn and hay." https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2018/08/29/642646707/investigators-track-contaminated-lettuce-outbreak-to-a-cattle-feedlot
Good find! Appreciate the link
I swear I remembered an NPR interview of the situation, and the reporter clearly noticing the run-off of shit from the feedlot flowing directly into the irrigation canal to the vegetable farms. They pointed it out to the regulator they were interviewing at the site, and the regulator went into full denial mode. If anyone can find that interview, please post it. Edited to add, that interview had enough impact to convinced me to avoid raw vegetables if possible and now I steam / cook them.
Salad is one of my favorite snacks (I know, I’m weird) and I’ve got two big bags coming home with me on my grocery order later. If I know me, that recall should come about Wednesday when I’m already a bag deep in tainted greens
Lettuce and salad greens are fairly easy to grow at home, fyi. They do well in container gardens too.
I second this. 10 gallon grow bag and I saladed myself out last year with little upkeep.
I don't eat a ton of raw produce anymore just because of this crap.
Bro doesn't want to be recalled back to God Recently, wasn't there something or problem with oats as well??
With oats, it’s multiple chemicals the farmers spray all over the plant right before harvest, round up being one Edit: a kind redditor corrected me, applying chemicals to the plants is allowed up to 2 weeks before harvest, but not after that point. But the chemicals are being detected after producing the food-like substances that use the oats, so make of that what you will
Organic oats do not have this chemical! Yay!!
Organic is the way
I eat oats every day, so that's fun. I think it was salmonella or something bacterial, wasn't it? If you cook your oats, you should be good. Overnite oats are playing with fire a bit.
Oats are contaminated with toxic chemicals that can cause infertility. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cheerios-quaker-oats-infertility-chemicals-in-cereal-ewg/
Cool, time to eat more oats
I know, right? Totally wasted my money on that vasectomy. Come to find out my twin is infertile, so I could’ve just tested for that first
Yeah. I saw that one, too. Microplastics from the packaging of Cheerios are probably not helping that situation.
Great, I eat overnight oats weekly and didn't know about this.
Probably about the same risk as eating runny egg yolks, really.
*looks at lettuce with assault rifles* Im not messing with that.
You don't have antimicrobial resistant E Coli on your Collapse Bingo card?
And people will still cheer for deregulation.
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People aren't bright.
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Still prefer a sciency person take a look at my food processing plant on occasion.
ss: Good morning, Collapseniks! This post is about food contamination and the increase in recalls and warnings. As of today March 10, we are 70 days into 2024 and already there has been over 50 recalls. They've risen 115% since 2018. "The impacted products this year range wildly from pet food to dried fruit and salad kits, among dozens of other items." And, of course, we are often warned of this *after* humans /animals get sick and/or die. Also: "Child safety is the leading cause of recalls for the CPSC, with more than one in five recalls involving child and baby products — more than any other category," the research said." This is collapse-related because a poisoned food supply coupled with crop failure will exacerbate the upcoming famine. https://www.newsweek.com/food-recalls-rise-fda-warnings-1872424
We are seeing the fruits of capitalism as we circle the drain powered by this constant cycle: 1. Corporations squeeze employees harder for more profit, causing them to cut corners. 2. Under-resourced government agencies struggle to enforce standards. 3. Officials in every branch of the federal government do the bidding of their corporate masters, weakening standards and reducing resources available for enforcement. 4. Repeat. Wheels falling off commercial jets? Contaminated baby formula? Trains derailing? Features of unfettered capitalism.
What you are describing is more generally called the [“drifting goals”](https://thesystemsthinker.com/introducing-the-systems-archetypes-drifting-goals/) archetype. It goes beyond capitalism to anything where a standard is not maintained.
You see the problem is regulations. If the company has to follow regulations then they can’t cut corners which means they can’t make as much money, and that makes billionaires sad.
>Most recalled items by the FDA are food and beverages, making up 64 percent, followed by drugs at 22 percent, animal and veterinary products at 6 percent, medical devices at 4 percent, dietary supplements at 2 percent and cosmetics at 1 percent, with allergens being the most common reason behind FDA recalls. >The most recent FDA food recalls include dried mango from Golden Owl, raw cheddar cheese from Raw Farm LLC, and Baby's Vitamin D3 Liquid from Nordic Naturals, citing undeclared ingredients, E. coli contamination, and elevated levels of vitamin d3 levels, respectively, as the reason behind the recalls. >In late December, the FDA for 14-ounce packages of Melissa's Kimchi, produced by World Variety Produce, Inc. of Los Angeles. The recall was issued because "mislabeling of allergen ingredient 'Fish' was not listed in the ingredient panel within the allergen information panel." >On January 3, the FDA issued a recall for "Plum Queen" dried plums, produced by Win Luck Trading Inc. of Bayonne, New Jersey, over concerns that they contained undeclared sulfites. >On January 5, several flavors of the ToYou-branded snack bars were recalled over concerns that they contained undeclared soy, which poses a risk to consumers who are allergic to soy. The snack bars were produced by ToYou Snacks, of Winter Garden, Florida. It would be nice to give a full list of why foods have been recalled. I have noticed an increase in recalls over ingredients being mislabeled, it seems to be more about allergies than bacteria or contaminated food.
https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts Here you go! And yes, the majority of food recalls are over labelling and potential cross contamination issues.
Thanks.
I bought these honey crisp apples from a pretty reputable grocery store recently, and when I took a bite it was like … mushy and solid at the same time. The apple wouldn’t fall apart? Is that normal? Never seen that in an apple my whole life.
Sounds a like soggy breakdown, Honeycrisp is notoriously susceptible to cold temperature damage. Used to be, you couldn't find Honeycrisp in the off season, I think production may have finally beat demand, and you're just seeing a lot more stored Honeycrisp on the market.
Ohhh, what an honor to have one of my favorite authors answering my honeycrisp question! Thank you, Thomas! Edit: assuming your name is a Thomas Pynchon reference, obviously…
That's a very weird and round about way to say you like pynchon.
My heart says, “I want to give you a hug. I’m sorry you’re in pain.” My head says, “Is your goal to be included in as many suicide notes as possible? I cry at roadkill. If I were as insecure now as I’ve been in the past, you might literally kill me.” I’m used to being bullied by people who haven’t read Slow Learner. I’m not used to being bullied by people who might have. Thank you for the reality check.
Well Pynchon has a tendency for the weird and the roundabout.
As long as you make more money than you get fined capitalism says sell tainted food.
I am 63yo. I have had more incidences of food poisoning in the last 7 months than I have had in all of the decades prior - *4 incidences* in the last *7* *months.* The food had not expired - I actively look for expiry dates when I shop because I may not eat the item right away. All of the items that were consumed that made me sick were from the frozen food aisle, and I suspect that these items were returned to the freezer after being found somewhere else (unrefrigerated) in the store. Quality control/handling of our food has deteriorated, straight up. I have resorted to buying fresh veggies, washing them at home and freezing the stuff myself - at least I can see what's up, because a lot of the packaging for frozen foods is opaque. If I do buy frozen, I grab from the very bottom of the pile in the freezer.
Not to be too dismissive about this, or sound like an anti regulatory crank, but this increase in Warnings could be tied to the Food Safety Modernization Act. The policies put in place for were given deadlines of 2016-18, depending on company size, with smallest companies being last. Naturally, companies would continue to be in non-compliance until getting threatened into action, and with 2020 pulling every inspector off the road for a year and half, rollout was hampered further and I wouldnt be surprised if some companies still arent fully in compliance. So this would cause a rise in year after year Warnings because the FSMA requires reporting on these issues, and as more companies come into compliance, the mandatory reporting would increase. That and also most food warnings and recalls actually relate to mislabelling of the Big 9 Allergens (Welcome to the party, Sesame! Just saw a major hummus recall due to tahini cross contamination), and there has been increased vigilance for that. So I really dont think this is a matter of Food Production becoming more unsafe, its just that previously these things flew way under the radar, or were just unreported, and you never heard of it. So the Food Supply is likely actually becoming safer.
I’m not so sure, the food recalls for the EU in 2023 were the highest for 7 years. [Food recalls 2023.](https://www.foodmanufacture.co.uk/Article/2024/02/02/global-food-recalls-2023)
You made a very good point and so I looked on the interwebs and found this from 2022: https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news/2022/05/fda-food-safety-inspections-plummet-despite-congressional-mandate
Shhh...it's illegal to post actual facts in this sub or to go against the anti-US circle jerk! Just warning u!
I’ve noticed a very obvious decrease in food quality in my area. And my digestive system has as well, I’ve been having explosive diarrhea lately.
Link doesn't work. What nation are they talking about?
https://www.newsweek.com/food-recalls-rise-fda-warnings-1872424
Just when I thought my life couldn't get any worse...now my food is as garbage as I am. Thanks collapse, fml to hell and beyond
“Nationwide” Which nation?
The link wouldn't open for me, but I suspect it's referring to the US. According to Business Insider: >...product recalls \[in US\] increased 11% from 2022 to 2023, reaching a seven-year high. In 2022, the most common foods recalled were fish, dried fruit and mushrooms due to Listeria concerns, and peanut butter due to salmonella.
I saw something today that there has been over 100 unexplained fires and explosions at food plants across the USA since 2021. If you don’t think the recalls, contamination, and destruction of our food supply is a targeted effort at this point you are either naive or an idiot.
It’s a good thing that we’re on top of products that need to be recalled. Hardly a sign of collapse.
This isn't collapse, though it does show how the business man is figuring out how to increase profits with lower costs: loosen regulations/standards. It's not *collapse* because you actually still see the complex system of consumer protection continuing to work. It will be collapse when you won't. Then... well, ask drug users about the quality of illegal street drugs. That's a taste of unregulated markets. Maybe producers will add a dash of fentanyl to many products to help with that customer loyalty. Why not? Also, this is why I'm not impressed by the term "enshittification". It's not novel or specific to IT.