For reasons I cannot fathom, the FDA has now declared war on the craft beer industry:
As anyone who’s ever brewed their own beer knows, the process leaves a lot of excess … stuff. This goopy aftermath of the brewing process is known as “spent grain,” and it would generally go to waste. But many brewers have developed relationships with farmers, who feed the spent grain to cows and other livestock. It’s a win-win: Farmers get cost-effective feed, while brewers cut down on environmental waste and also possibly make some extra cash (or at least save cash by not having to dispose of the spent grain).
Obviously, this won’t do.
Under new rules proposed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, breweries would be required to dry and package spent grain before it could be given or sold to farmers to use as feed. Both brewers and farmers are upset by the proposal, which they say would pose a big financial burden and also just generally makes no sense.
Naturally. But it makes sense to those in power, or else they wouldn’t be doing it.
(The new rules are “explained” here.)
Too bad the founding fathers aren’t alive. They would declare war on these bastards, whose tyrannical conduct makes the British look like downright pikers* by comparison.
* I think a major reason our rulers hate the Tea Party is simply that the name is a reminder that the American Revolution was fought over far, far less.
Comments
One response to “What you produce is not yours”
Once again, this illustrates the problem with Congress delegating rule making to the bureaucracy. There doesn’t seem to be any evidence that this practice has caused any harm to farm animals or to humans, but the FDA can flex its muscles like this because Congress has turned its authority over to departments like the FDA.
In fact, for many Congress critters, this arrangement is a feature not a bug. Affected citizens contact their representatives who then can affect the rules and therefore make themselves out as heroes saving the citizen from the bureaucrats.