Follow the money. No inspection=no gov't employees getting paid to interject themselves into your life.

New libertarian rally cry: "Get the government out of our kitchens!" (And yes, it's meant to be funny, but...)

Gee. You might be able to detect DDT, Agent Orange, trichinosis and BSE in the farm animals. You might actually be able to see the collection of milk, such that you see it actually put in clean containers on the shelf in their store.
I bet the general public cannot.

Do you really think everything at Cracker Barrel comes from one place? Why would you assume that Farmer Tom doesn't get something from somebody else down the road?

The entire reason for inspections is because people were poisoned by unscrupulous farmers and ranchers before, and there is no other mechanism to see that they do not return to their ways absent inspection.

One more time: Food safety is not obtained by acting after the fact. You cannot fire, jail or penalize anyone and un-poison the victim(s).

detect DDT, Agent Orange, trichinosis and BSE

Let's pick your list apart:

DDT -- Most of it's effects were on wildlife, not humans. -- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDT#Silent_Spring_and_the_U.S._ban

Agent Orange (and Agent Purple and Blue) -- Pretty much only used in Vietnam and surrounding countries. -- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_Orange

trichinosis -- Between 2002 and 2007, 11 cases were reported to CDC each year on average in the United States; these were mostly the result of eating undercooked game, bear meat, or home-reared pigs. Basically the USDA canceled the trichinosis testing a few years ago. -- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichinosis

BSE -- mad cow disease -- In humans, it is known as new variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (vCJD or nvCJD), and by October 2009, it had killed 166 people in the United Kingdom, and 44 elsewhere. Between 460,000 and 482,000 BSE-infected animals had entered the human food chain before controls on high-risk offal were introduced in 1989. So call it 1000 people died before it was caught and prevented. There are about 310M people in the U.S. and about 6 Billion on the planet. Please tell me you think this is a significant threat. -- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bovine_spongiform_encephalopathy

Do you really think everything at Cracker Barrel comes from one place?

And if you think Cracker Barrel isn't a corporate business then [skip the characterization of your intelligence] just the same as Bob Evans.

But there is a a fruit/veggie stand about 10 miles from me that is open about 8-9 months a year. The majority of stuff they sell is coming from orchards and fields I can see as I'm driving to the stand.

One more time: Food safety is not obtained by acting after the fact. You cannot fire, jail or penalize anyone and un-poison the victim(s). -- Radwaste at July 23, 2013 7:00 PM

I have no problem with realistic and reasonable inspections on corporate food. But when you get to the point that you are telling the Amish they can't sell cheese or milk they have produced for generations in the same way, you have lost it.

BTW, aren't you the one who always talks about stistics?

I'm in favor of something down the middle.

1) Make laws saying you can't add DDT, agent orange, etc. to your milk.
2) Occasionally have random, surprise inspections. Give them a sticker afterwards.

This way, the farmers will know they have to comply with the law, and the consumers will know whether or not they've been inspected yet.

I feel comfortable buying just about anything at my local markets because there are some standards. I know the inspections aren't perfect, but the fact that neither I nor anyone I know regularly gets food poisoning makes me comfortable enough to buy anything from just about any market.

Most people don't have the resources to drive to their local farm and inspect the facilities (or even the knowledge to know what to look for), so the responsibility for inspections would back-end to the markets. People still want safe food from all across the country. Kiss mom-and-pop markets goodbye. Only stores like Whole Foods (and some larger, profitable chains) would be able to afford to inspect. Smaller markets would go under pretty quickly. So would markets just getting by (which includes a lot of the larger chains. The profit margin for supermarkets is pretty low).

We'd save the tax money we allow for inspections, but food would cost just as much or more because markets would have to inspect the food themselves to assure people that their products are safe.

The government overreaches in many areas, but it it well within the purview of government to ensure an adequate food supply.

Plus, what a pain in the ass it would be to inspect the facilities involved in everything I eat, when you consider that companies don't always source all their ingredients from the same facility. It would be a years-long project (and cost a fortune in airfare) to personally investigate everything in a box of prepackaged stuffing.

One more time: Food safety is not obtained by acting after the fact. You cannot fire, jail or penalize anyone and un-poison the victim(s).

Actually food saftey IS obtained after the fact. Or were you under the assumption that they began testing food all of that years before anyone ever dies from any of it.

Also if you can not jail or fine anyone for causing a food poison death then how can you justify jailing and fining people who have not caused a food poisoning death?

Come on Rad, if you can not jail or fine anyone for causing a food poison death then how can you justify jailing and fining people who have not caused a food poisoning death?

Out of curiosity, is this not complaint driven like in Canada?

I live in a *very* rural community. Three quarters of the population in my town are farmers.

It's common to purchase your food at vegetable stands, farmers markets, and even our very popular flea market.

No government approval here. Just pick and go! We are also able to purchase cheese and eggs. I'm pretty damn sure the government would have a stroke if they sold meat there, but it's common to buy a half or whole animal directly from the farmer, and bring it to the butchers. (100 lbs of beef for $75, hell can't go wrong!)

There have been a very few farmers fined, but it was complaint driven; they had the gall to try and advertise and a few city-dwelling yuppies got up in arms.