The California state attorney general is suing massive organic food chains Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods for allegedly carrying ginger and plum candies with lead in them. The state has been pushing an ever-more-restrictive set of food labeling regulations over the past several years, and sees this case as the tip of the spear for that movement. The lawsuit was filed April 30 in San Francisco, and says that Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, Target, 99 Ranch Market, and others have been selling products containing too much lead. The state also contends that the labeling does not warn people about the lead content of the food.
Target has already pulled the product.
Overseas food manufacturers often do not test their food, and the Food and Drug Administration doesn’t monitor strictly the food coming in from overseas. The goal of the state is to make chain stores liable for the foods they carry, forcing them to spend millions on monitoring that food despite the supposed oversight of the Food and Drug Administration. The state’s success in that endeavor would jack up food prices significantly.
Ben Shapiro is Editor-At-Large of Breitbart News and author of the New York Times bestseller “Bullies: How the Left’s Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences America” (Threshold Editions, January 8, 2013).
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.