A few recent news stories have a commonality that may not be immediately apparent. What thread connects Obama’s fiduciary rule, workplace safety, and Donald Trump’s friend Thomas Barrack? They’re all examples of how the moral justification of capitalism has failed to live up to its promise.
Thieves Take Tracking Devices — Caught Hours Later
Last week the House Committee on Natural Resources Subcommittee on Federal Lands heard testimony from four expert witnesses regarding ways that Congress could shape policy for our national forests. If you don’t watch Congressional subcommittee meetings on YouTube for fun, you’re missing out on seeing the sausage grinder of law formation in action.
Who doesn’t enjoy the convenience of ready-to-eat chicken? Unfortunately, the well-known New Holland, Pa. establishment, Tyson Foods, has decided to recall nearly “2,485,374 pounds of ready-to-eat (RTE) breaded chicken products due to misbranding and undeclared allergens.” What kind of undeclared allergens did the company forget to include on the labels? Milk. The labels failed to mention that the products “could contain milk, a known allergen” that many people are sensitive to.
Chef Boyardee fans beware, Conagra Brands recently issued a recall of 700,125 pounds of canned spaghetti and meatballs products “over a labeling error with possible allergens.” The company decided to issue the recall after an “ingredient supplier notified Conagra that bread crumbs used in the [recalled] products might contain milk, a known allergen.” The main problem that prompted the recall was that the known allergen, milk, “was not listed on the products’ labels.”
A new recall has been issued by Creation Gardens, Inc., a Louisville, Ky., establishment that has decided to recall “approximately 22,832 pounds of raw ground beef and beef primal cut products that may be contaminated with E. coli O157: H7.” The recall is a big deal because the company supplies beef to many restaurants throughout Louisville, and more than “1,500 restaurants in Lexington; Evansville, Ind.; Nashville; and Cincinnati.”
The Trump administration and FDA have decided to delay yet another Obama-era rule that would require manufacturers to “update nutritional facts labels on processed foods.” Why? Well, it turns out that the “Food and Drug Administration said it has determined that manufacturers need additional time beyond the July 26, 2018 compliance date to complete and print new labels for their products.”
Whole Foods Market is facing hard times. Once the darling of both sustainability advocates and Wall Street, Whole Foods is no longer the unstoppable force of years past. The beleaguered grocer was recently the target of an activist shareholder takeover, and also faces legal, social, and systemic hurdles.
Baby gates are common in households across the country because they keep babies and small children safe from stairs or other areas that are unsafe. Unfortunately, however, a popular baby gate has just been recalled “due to entrapment and strangulation hazards to young children.”