As supermarket chains struggle to maintain profitability amid rising costs,proposed ObamaCare regulations will only add to their troubles.
Experts estimate the pending federal mandate,which dictates how store owners must label ready-to-eat foods,will result in a $1 billion expense within the first year of its implementation.
According to Erik Lieberman of the Food Marketing Institute,stores have two expensive options in adhering to the rule:purchase software to test food nutrition,or use outside laboratories.
On top of the expense,he contends store owners will now be liable for any mistakes made in labeling.
“If you get it wrong,it’s a federal crime,”he said,“and you could face jail time and thousands of dollars worth of fines.”
Obviously,the Food and Drug Administration heralds the intrusion as a step toward a healthier America.
According to a statement from the agency,the new law “should help consumers limit excess calorie intake and understand how the foods that they purchase at these establishments fit within their daily caloric and other nutritional needs.”
With countless websites and other sources devoted to helping users determine nutritional information,this move strikes me as not only unnecessary but unfair to grocers who did not sign up to be agricultural chemists.
Of course,store owners alone are not going to absorb the immense additional cost of business.
The owner of one supermarket chain addressed the impact such legislation will have on consumers.
“When you incur a significant cost,”he said,“there’s no way that that doesn’t get passed on to the customer in some form.”
The Obama administration,apparently not satisfied with tax increases,inflation,and rampant unemployment,seek to enact this and other regulations that will not only stifle the free market but cost all Americans – especially the sacred working class – much more in the future.
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I see no problem with being informed of what I am expected to put into my body. Here,in South Africa,foodstuff is labelled with content and nutritional information,although we still wait for legislation to make GM content notifiable,although some food processors voluntarily inform the consumer of such. You have the choice of increased health costs because of bad eating habits,over and above Obamacare ,with which you are saddled for the time being,or of a decreased health bill because you are eating wholesome foods. Obesity –and all the ills that flow from this,is all-pervasive in the US –it has become the norm. And it is gross. And the implications,healthwise,are horrendous. Anything that helps to alleviate this –and marking foods should help,should not be decried.
What does this FDA Regulation require? If it's only an ingredient list,no problem. However,if they are going to require a "per serving"listing of the calories,fat calories,sodium,vitamins,minerals,etc.,that's bat **** crazy! Next time you write an article like this,how about citing the Federal Register Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) number? That way,we can hammer our Congresscritters with specifics as well as submitting a formal Reply to that NPRM. Congress,by the way,can cut funding to rogue agencies such as FDA,EPA,etc.