ObamaCare/FDA to Supermarkets: Jail Time or Food-Labeling

USING OBAMACARE, THE FDA PROPOSES NEW FOOD LABELING RULE Penalty: Jail time and thousands of dollars worth of fines. Costs: $1 billion cost per year for grocery stores; higher prices for consumers But remember it’s all for “your own good”…because “government knows best.” Shannon Bream reported today: If the Food and Drug Administration gets its way, your trip to the grocery  store could get a tad pricier. Supermarket owners argue a pending federal food-labeling rule that stems from  the new health care law would overburden thousands of grocers and convenience  store owners — to the tune of $1 billion in the first year alone. […] The rule stems from an ObamaCare mandate that restaurants provide nutrition  information on menus. Most in the restaurant industry were supportive of the  idea, but when the FDA decided to extend the provision to also affect thousands  of supermarkets and convenience stores, the backlash was swift. The proposed regulation would require store owners to label prepared, unpackaged foods found in salad bars and food bars, soups and bakery items. Erik  Lieberman, regulatory counsel at the Food Marketing Institute, said testing  foods for nutritional data will require either expensive software or even more costly off-site laboratory assessments. Lieberman said failure to get it right comes with stiff penalties: “If  you get it wrong, it’s a federal crime, and you could face jail time and thousands of dollars worth of fines.”

(Click link or image below to watch video) Video: Regulation in ObamaCare Will Impact Grocery Store Food Items Via Fox News, January 27, 2013

Highlights from the video: Erik Lieberman, regulatory counsel at the Food Marketing Institute, and Shannon Bream explain: “This is a federal regulation — in proposed stage right now — that stems from the health care law [ObamaCare] and basically says that supermarkets are going to have to label all kinds of foods.” “If you don’t label it, supermarkets face thousands of dollars worth of fines and executives supermarkets could be put in federal jails.” “You can go to jail if you don’t label the foods correctly under this federal regulation.” “And this is a sweeping regulation that affects thousands of items in the supermarket.” “Because of this we could see a number of items going away and I can guarantee you that shoppers are going to see higher prices at the register.” “There’s not a single study out there which shows that labeling reduces obesity rates.” “We’ve estimated that it would be $1 billion dollars worth of burden in the first year alone.” “This is a huge burden. Before we sell an item — like this apple pie — we have to send it to a laboratory for analysis, we have to compile eight different records on the item, we have to put that sign up there which says 300 calories.” “We have to invest a lot of money to do this and this is money that we’re not investing in creating jobs or developing our stores and — savings that we can’t pass on to consumers.” “If you don’t get it right someone’s going to jail.”

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