By way of introduction, I have not eaten red meat in more than 30 years, heavily influenced by the book "Diet for a Small Planet."
Last week, the Obama Administration ended a cattle ID Program known as "NAIS" begun by President Bush in response to a spate of deaths from beef comtaminated with the bacteria E. coli. Agriculture Secretary Vilsack said too many ranchers were complaining about it.
I'm a bit enraged by the Administration's thinking here. Ranchers are once again to write the rules for themselves. Major loopholes will again permit infected meat to make it to market. E. coli will kill scores more, so we will temporarily stop buying beef. Ranchers will then blame the government for all of this, for not regulating them more adequately. Then, the ranchers will sabotage the new regulations.
Here is a fascinating PBS piece on the "openness" of the beef industry to rational regulation:
http://www.pbs.org/...