
America’s meat shortage is more serious than the missing hamburgers - YeGoblynQueenne
https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/5/8/21248618/coronavirus-meat-shortage-food-supply-chain-grocery-stores
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34679
US Rep Thomas Massie has been talking about this for years and has seen a
recent surge of support for his PRIME Act, which would allow small farms to
have their livestock slaughtered at custom facilities instead of USDA
facilities, if the meat is to then be sold within the state.

[https://townhall.com/tipsheet/juliorosas/2020/04/27/gop-
cong...](https://townhall.com/tipsheet/juliorosas/2020/04/27/gop-congressman-
warns-of-food-shortages-during-pandemic-because-of-regulations-n2567683)

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rumanator
> (...) which would allow small farms to have their livestock slaughtered at
> custom facilities instead of USDA facilities

I don't understand. That bill only creates loopholes to avoid health and
safety checks. What's the point?

I mean, the bill eliminates health and safety checks, and then declares that
the bill "will further allow farmers to provide food, that would otherwise go
to waste". Yet, the food that fails health and safety checks is supposed to be
taken out of the market, right? Isn't that the whole point of the system? How
is this compatible with a civilized society?

~~~
34679
The same exemption already exists for poultry in the US. Right now, if I want
to buy beef from a farmer down the road, I have to buy a whole or half cow,
then have it butchered. This would allow farmers to sell cuts of beef locally.
There are only a handful of USDA meat processors, they are all owned by
multinational conglomerates, and they have no interest in processing cuts of
meat at the local scale. They serve factory farms and the current law was
designed to protect their grip on the market.

~~~
rumanator
> The same exemption already exists for poultry in the US.

That doesn't matter at all. Either the health checks are not justified, or
this bill is tailored to expose everyone to health and safety hazards just to
increase some industry's profit margin.

Trying to spin this nonsense as a way to magically create food through
legislation is disingenuous and takes advantage of people's ignorance.

~~~
34679
Right now, cows are being killed without ever reaching a processor. Families
are looking for meat at grocery stores and finding empty shelves. Does that
make sense to you? Every state has a Health Department and laws regarding
slaughter, and this bill would not exempt any processors from those laws.

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credit_guy
Not clear how meat packing is different from packing green beans for example.
Covid19 is affecting the workers who prepare the foods in the meat isles but
somehow avoiding the workers who prepare the foods in the vegetable isles?

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anotheryou
A also wondered. Maybe dissecting a pig is still more manual labor?

I'm sure no human hand touched my frozen peas.

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_curious_
"There’s a version of America and its food consumption habits that existed
three months ago that might never exist again. Some might feel entitled to
getting that back. Others will find something new to want."

Feeling or acting entitled towards anything (food, money, etc) only leads to
disappointment. And I say that as a frequent consumer of all types of meat.
Maybe it's time for some forced change, mother nature style?

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flarg
Yeah, but isn't this why artificial meat companies are getting funding? To
industrialise meat production and achieve unprecedented scale?

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lonelappde
It's more of a meat avarice than a meat shortage.

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morningjoe1
I just love how extensive Vox's reporting is

~~~
born_a_skeptic
Seriously, notice how there is no outrage over the posting of Vox articles,
which is documented to be bias towards the left side of the political
spectrum, but when someone posts something from a right leaning website, it
gets flagged almost immediately.

~~~
YeGoblynQueenne
If it helps, I've had many submitted articles flagged within a few minutes
from posting them, the majority of them on debates regarding gender and
neuroscience. My conclusion at the time was that they were being flagged by
users who felt the articles pushed a certain liberal agenda (though that was
not my intention). Despite that, I didn't conclude HN users in general have a
certain political affiliation. Note that it only takes a few users to flag and
bury an article and other users can do little to salvage a sufficiently
flagged article.

