Food For Thought 3.23.09

"They gave PCA glowing reviews. The company was selected by PCA, paid by PCA and realized that if they didn't give PCA a glowing review, they were not going to get hired again." (Representative Henry Waxman, a California Democrat and chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, on the value of private food inspection firms--in this case the nation's largest, American Institute of Baking International. Apparently the only company to find sanitary problems at Peanut Corporation of American was Nestle, which relies on its own inspectors. So, privatization doesn't work and the government can't afford to increase inspections of the food system unless we raise taxes...As quoted in the Washington Post.)