The responsibilities and obligations of a state government to its’ citizens are extensive. One of the main tasks of the state government is to make certain that all citizens can obtain the basic necessities for survival. As such, the state government must verify that food, nutrition, is sold at an affordable rate even to the poor working class. Should a problem arise in the food industry or commerce system, the state must assess and rectify the problem as it would prevent the citizens from purchasing the nutrition they require. In France, during the nineteenth century, the pricing system of the meat industry was discovered to be fundamentally flawed. In order to remedy this weakness, the very assessment of meat needed to be restructured.
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the early 1800s, majority of butchers sold their meat cuts according to retail prices. However, because the unregulated retail prices were set too high, the French working classes could not afford to purchase the meat. As the prices rose, the lower class could not eat meat at all thus altering their diets to just soup, vegetables, and whatever else they could get their hands on. In an effort to stabilize prices and make meat more affordable to the working class, a parliamentary inquiry took place in 1851 to investigate the pricing systems. There seemed to be no uniform price system or classification of meat. Instead it varied based on the location of the butcher shop or the butcher’s own assessment of the meat’s quality. Reformers (those whose objective is to expand the regimen of food available to the working class) evaluated that in order to enhance the diet of the working class, the problems within the meat industry must be improved. (Lhuissier, 183-184, 190) The main issues of the meat industry were the lack of competition and the varied classification systems of meat. Reformers believed that by adding more competition in the market, the prices would be more regulated. The municipal authorities also set administrative prices towards the same end. However, the lack of a homogenous pricing system or terminology of meat remained a large obstacle. In the 1850s, there were three main methods of assigning the price of meat. The first and most common method was the classification of meat according to species. Every species was given a certain price per weight. The second method was a unique price for all meat, however this method was susceptible to cheating and fraud. In order to save money and make a bigger profit, butchers drastically lowered the quality of the meat. The third method was based on the piece of meat. Each part of the animal sold had its own price. (Lhuissier, 186-191) The municipal authorities decided that a uniform pricing system was necessary to regulate prices and make meat affordable.
However, creating a uniform pricing system proved to be very difficult. Since prices were based on the quality of meats, an agreed upon system by which quality of meat is designated was essential in creating a singular pricing system. If the quality of the meat was decided by the butcher, then the butcher can claim any meat to be of the highest quality to gain profit. The issue of price would become the issue of quality. But opinions varied greatly on the terms that would measure the quality of the meat. Cattle farmers and butchers each had their own criteria for judging an animal’s worth. Eventually, the criteria were brought down to two characteristics, the species and the piece of the animal. (Lhuissier, …show more content…
193-194) In 1847, administrative authorities altered the previous administrative prices that were derived from the Ancien Regime, which provided a uniform price for all meat. Instead, the Administrative prices were tailored to the species and piece of animal that was sold. For a short period of time, the pricing system reverted back to the retail prices under price limit due to the opposition against the Administrative pricing system as it was claimed to be too rigid. However, the abuse of retail prices brought back the Administrative prices with additional modifications to the criteria of meat. The two criteria of meat became three with the addition of the quality of meat. The classifications of meat continued to increase and the price range along with it. By expanding the price range, the reformers succeeded in making meat more affordable for the working class. (Lhuissier, 194-197) Despite the improved classification and pricing systems of meat, there still remained a few problems in the meat industry.
The consumers lacked information and knowledge pertaining to the classification and quality of the meat they were purchasing. As a result, they became vulnerable to deception. Butchers were able to take advantage of the consumer’s ignorance and sell them cheap meat for the price of high quality meat. In order to counter this issue, the terms of classification of meat were published in home economics manuals at the start of the nineteenth century. Consumers were encouraged to educate themselves and learn more about how to distinguish between meats. (Lhuissier,
200) In addition to guiding the consumers toward a more informed decision of meat purchase, the state also set into motion some cautionary measure to protect the consumers from the dangers they cannot seen. Veterinarians were assigned the responsibility of inspecting the sanitation of meat and observing the slaughtering of meat to assure that it is safe for consumption. These tasks were especially emphasized during times of widespread illness and disease. Veterinarians were also tasked with inspecting the quality of the meat and the process of preparation to insure that the consumers were not cheated in any way. (Lhuissier, 200-201) The regulation of food commerce is one of the many duties of the state. Not only does it effect the economy but the quality of life of the citizens.
One objection Norcross states in his essay is that “perhaps most consumers are unaware of the treatment of animals, before they appear in neatly wrapped packages on supermarket s...
The beginning of Meat Inspection Act seemed to be at 1904, after “The Jungle” of Sinclair published. In fact, it started twenty years earlier, the regular law, used to satisfy Europe, the largest meat export market, but in 1865 Congress passed an act to prevent the importation of diseased cattle and pigs. Because of disease, European like Italian, French, and English restricted or banned the importation meat, and they turned to another supplier. Some bills were introduced but they failed to gather sufficient support. May 1884, Bureau of Animal Industry was established, it was doing good job in fighting Europe restrictions, helping the packers, but not helping the domestic consumers. March 1891, the first major meat inspection law was passed; some country removed the prohibitions on importing American pork. It distressed the European packing industry as well. So, they imposed more standards. Government had to do more action; major percent meat slaughtered was inspected. Some of companies exploited the law, but most of them, especially big companies agreed with the committee in 1902. In 1904, Smith, who was a great information aid to Sinclair, published a series of articles in The Lancet...
the growing concern about the quality of food in America the government took action to
Regulating what the government should control and what they should not was one of the main arguments our founding fathers had to deal with when creating our nation, and to this day this regulation is one of the biggest issues in society. Yet, I doubt our founding fathers thought about the idea that the food industry could one day somewhat control our government, which is what we are now facing. Marion Nestles’ arguments in the book Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health deal with how large food companies and government intertwine with one another. She uses many logical appeals and credible sources to make the audience understand the problem with this intermingling. In The Politics of Food author Geoffrey Cannon further discusses this fault but with more emotional appeals, by use of personal narratives. Together these writers make it dramatically understandable why this combination of the food industry and politics is such a lethal ordeal. However, in The Food Lobbyists, Harold D. Guither makes a different viewpoint on the food industry/government argument. In his text Guither speaks from a median unbiased standpoint, which allows the reader to determine his or her own opinions of the food industries impact on government, and vise versa.
The need for affordable, efficiently produced meat became apparent in the 1920’s. Foer provides background information on how Arthur Perdue and John Tyson helped to build the original factory farm by combining cheap feeds, mechanical debeaking, and automated living environ...
In conclusion it is obvious to see that rights and responsibilities were not carried out by the meatpacking industry. They were greed driven business men who “poisoned for profit” as president Roosevelt said. The meatpackers had a right to make their product but did not take the responsibility to do it in a manner that was safe to the consumer. Thanks to people like Upton Sinclair and Theodore Roosevelt, the meat industry today takes the responsibility to make a safe quality product of the public.
For Piura, price changes in cowpea, maize, sheep and goat meat were considered. In Campo Verde, the analysis focused on production of cassava, rice, maize, plantain, palm oil, cacao and cattle meat. These scenarios were employed in order to see what happens if the price increased or decreased. For the analysis, five levels of the factor (price change) were considered 0.5, 0.7, 1, 1.3 and 1.5.
Within the United State there is only one set of standards to grade beef and beef products being distributed interstate. The USDA put these standards in place after the Wholesome Meat Act of 1967 which states that, “USDA has authority to control movement of unfit meat and meat products and to require poultry products in interstate and foreign commerce to meet Federal inspection standards.” There are seven standards in place for commercial beef sale in the United States; they are on a sliding scale. Excellent quality beef is labeled as prime, which has a high degree of marbling or fat throughout the back, loin, ribs, and rump. Prime beef is going to be mainly used in steakhouses and restaurants throughout the nation. The quality of this particular type of beef is superior to the next standard of beef, choice...
Whether you consider yourself a ‘foodie’ or not, the story of those standards is an interesting one. It so happened that in 1970, a group of farmers got together and set the benchmarks for beef production in the US. And, as they say, the
N. Fiala. (2010). “The Value of Cultured Meat:An Estimate of the Externality Costs of Meat Consumption”New Harvest.
As a result, individuals in America have extra income to spend on desired items and help the economy to maintain its economic advantage. An increase in food prices would affect everyone’s level of disposable income and would reduce consumer spending in other industries. Therefore, decreased consumer spending would cause companies to downsize and unemployment would increase. After evaluating the consequences of these regulations it is evident that the success of our economy in America is far more important than ethical treatment of meat.
Is it morally permissible to eat meat? Much argument has arisen in the current society on whether it is morally permissible to eat meat. Many virtuous fruitarians and the other meat eating societies have been arguing about the ethics of eating meat (which results from killing animals). The important part of the dispute is based on the animal welfare, nutrition value from meat, convenience, and affordability of meat-based foods compared to vegetable-based foods and other factors like environmental moral code, culture, and religion. All these points are important in justifying whether humans are morally right when choosing to eat meat. This paper will argue that it is morally impermissible to eat meat by focusing on the treatment of animals, the environmental argument, animal rights, pain, morals, religion, and the law.
The fact is that in our country, any government intrusion looks undesirable. We are so used to making free choice and to having access to everything we need and want that we have already forgotten the value and usefulness of the government control. No, that does not mean that the government must control everything and everyone. What I mean here is that the government control should be balanced with the freedom of choice. Unfortunately, plentiful foods do not lead to improved health conditions. We cannot always make a relevant choice. Our hurried lifestyles make us extremely fast, and eating is not an exception. We eat fast, but fast does not always mean useful. I believe, and in this essay I argue that the government must have a say in our diets. Because there are so many obese people, because obesity is an expensive disease, and because very often it is due to poverty that people cannot afford healthy foods, the government must control the amount and the range of foods which we buy and eat. Healthy foods must become affordable. Poor populations must have access to high quality foods. The production of harmful foods should be limited. All these would be impossible if the government does not take active position against our diets.
Food just happens one of the most important things in the world. It is the key to life and there are many varieties of it. There are healthier varieties as well as less healthy of varieties of all foods. Processed foods happen to be making the food industry very wealthy and are also making foods cut-rate, more captivating, and detrimental to one’s health. One might picture a candy bar, a bag of chips, or possibly a slice of pizza, yet there are many other types of processed foods that some do not perceive. Meat can be processed in baffling ways. Not only is processed food unhealthy, but some might say the process of making processed food is repulsive. Although processed food might
The second function of the price system an economy must perform is to decide how the desired goods are to be produced. There is more than one way not only to skin a cow but also to grow wheat, train lawyers, refine petroleum, and transport baggage. The efficient production of goods requires that certain obvious rules be followed: no resource should be used in producing one thing when it could be producing something more valuable elsewhere; and each product should be made with the smallest possible amount of resources.