Hidden clause in HealthCare Act could cause food shortage

[ladyhk13]

As I was was watching the Sunday news with one eye and half an ear this afternoon something snapped me into reality. Hidden in the Health Care Act is a clause that requires all foods that are sold to be labled with how many calories are in it. Well at first glance it sounds like a pain in the butt for food companies but really no big deal right? Wrong!

Origionally it was said that "no one was considering putting grocery stores under this rule" but then decided why not? Which means every apple pie, every roll in the bakery, every chicken breast in the deli, every item on the shelf must have how many calories are in it. How is that calculated? The items must be sent to a lab for testing and all documentation must be at the store plus items labled too. Can you imagine how expensive this is going to be? Now, for those stores who are not in compliance with the new regulations, the store will be fined and get this THE OWNER, PRESIDENT WILL BE JAILED! Yes, I said jailed.
So, stores will now be faced with a choice (as will any other place that has food or manufactures it)...pay extreme amounts of money to comply or remove them from their shelves. This I believe is going to create a food shortage in a very short amount of time. I can't remember what the newscast (it was on FOX) said about the timeframe when it was going into effect but I believe it was fairly soon.
Knowing this I have began to rethink my prepping on food storage. I know that everyone is focused on guns and ammo right now (maybe that's why this is slipping through the cracks and no one is talking about it?) but I think that maybe it would be a good time to actually plan on the food more and really think about getting more self sufficient so I don't have to buy things so much at the store.

Can any of you give me some ideas of things that really need to be purchased because they either can't be grown easily or raised? I know right now I have to can or freeze meats since we don't have animals yet but things like sugar I know I have to buy but I'm trying to think of other items that would need to be purchased. What's left in stores are going to become very expensive as well so I think if ya'll have some extra money you might want to think about adding what you can. I was very surprised at this information. I wish I could remember what program it was on so I could cite it for you but I will keep my ears open now for more information on it.

[ladyhk13]

Ok, I found the video on this. It explains it much better than I can.
http://video.foxnews.com/v/212295308...ur-supermarket

[Echo2]

You wanna hear something else crazy....

The Dept. of Agriculture.....issued badges and uniforms to select employees.

[bacpacker]

Other stuff that I know I cant raise myself are several spices we use, tea, coffee, dairy if you dont have animals, some fruits. I am sure there are others as well. I gotta check out the link tonight.

[Echo2]

[DarkLight]

Slightly tangential question, how does this affect farmers markets? 99% of the produce isn't labled with nutritional/caloric information. I'm at work and haven't watched the video so if it's in there I apologize. If they are going to be under this clause then I see a black (or at least grey market) developing almost overnight. We already have a woman in the area who sells free-range eggs from her trunk at the "mailboxes in the parking lot in front of the <specific store here> on <certain day here>"...cash only. She's the one we got the three backpacks from (sweet deal by the way...totally tangential...sorry). This could not only make food skyrocket but just go downhill in general at a break-neck pace.

[msomnipotent]

I would assume we can say good bye to farmer's markets, even U-pick orchards and the like. I love the breads our grocer bakes, but I doubt they will bother with it now. I'm going to have to learn to bake my own.

[Echo2]

I would assume we can say good bye to farmer's markets, even U-pick orchards and the like. I love the breads our grocer bakes, but I doubt they will bother with it now. I'm going to have to learn to bake my own.

This would be my thought also...

[Taz Baby]

Would that affect the farms that sell their foods to markets or small Mom n Pop grocery stores? Or if they sell grains to feed stores? Don't know much about that but I have been looking into places for us to sell our produce to when we get it going good. Mom N Pop stores are everywhere here.

[DarkLight]

Discussed this with a couple of people at lunch and here was the general consensus (and I've seen the video since my first post).

Farmers Markets:
Produce, Animal Products, Animal By-Products - No affect if they post the FDA standard serving nutritional values for the produce they are selling (Fruits and Veggies, Meat, Poultry, Eggs, Honey, etc.)
Baked, canned, pickled and preserved goods - This is where it could potentially hurt, both the buyer and the seller. I've come up with a couple of ways to minimize the cost to both sides though.
1) Create a bakery/canning/cooking/whatever co-op. Although a lot of the margins are slim in a lot of small businesses, some profit is better than none (unless you go underground entirely). Utilizing a co-operative system you can have access to an establishment that could get discounted "testing" done for caloric count, etc. Additionally, you could most likely get discounts for buying in bulk as well as use equipment that you may not have access to otherwise, potentially giving you tighter control over your end product.
2) Use calorie ranges. Realistic, tight ranges but ranges instead of specific values. There are already places that do this now (Panera Bread comes to mind) on their menus since even though some things come to them already made and they have a fairly tight recipe they work from, there will always be some variation and they simply cannot guarantee a bread bowl will be X calories every single time. If they are realistic and do it in good faith, using the FDA provided nutritional values for ALL of the ingredients in the product, they should be covered.

Let me know what you think...

DL

- - - Updated - - -

One thing I forgot to mention, and I don't want anyone to think I don't realize it's still a big deal...I totally understand that it's a headache and a cost for the sellers to have to both look up the nutritional information for their products and in some cases print out and make signs/laminate/weatherproof, etc. those signs for long term use. I totall get that. I was just trying to think of a way for them to stay in business at all.

--DL