Nutrition Facts in a free market?

[Mahkato]

In a free market, would most food products be labeled for their nutritional content? Would the labels look anything like they do today? What might nutrition information look like on a free-market box of cereal?

 

[hugolp]

There would probably be real agencies (unlike the FDA) that would analyze the food and give information to their associates. And yes, I think most products would be labeled with the food information, otherwise people would not buy them.

 

[noxagol]

If people want it, it will happen.

 

[hotbrownsauce]

if people want it, it will happen.

exactly!

+1

 

[jake]

not QUITE that simple, but yeah, basically.

 

[phill4paul]

How are people able to tell if Kosher food is Kosher? Is the most trusted safety certification company, Underwriter Laboratories, a government agency?

As the above posters have noted if there is a demand there will be a company to supply it.

 

[keh10]

Me and a friend got into an argument over this. He could not be convinced that the free market could regulate nutrition values safely. His main point was that there was no way to make sure that companies didn't lie or mislead consumers on their labels. To which I responded, they already do, but with the government's consent. The bottom line is with the liability of allergens and the public demand for nutritional information, under market regulation nutrition facts would be a lot safer and a lot more clear. None of that 800 servings in a box of cereal to keep the sugar content below 20g a serving.

 

[YumYum]

It would be up to the supplier as to whether they would put any labels on their product or not. If the market demands labels, the manufacturer/supplier will put labels on their products if they want to stay in business. Most Americans don't look at labels, anyways. If they did, they wouldn't eat 90% of the stuff they buy.

 

[squarepusher]

who would punish the companies for lying on the labels?

 

[YumYum]

who would punish the companies for lying on the labels?

They wouldn't be punished for lying. After people start dying there would be lawsuits against the company and they would lose money and eventually go out of business.

 

[Brian Defferding]

They wouldn't be punished for lying. After people start dying there would be lawsuits against the company and they would lose money and eventually go out of business.

That answer always plays into the liberal's hands. "Oh great! So we just wait until people start dying, all hail teh free marketz! Invisible hand strikes again!"

I do think that existing fraud laws should be enforced regarding food and drinks information. Most of us believe the government should punish fraud culprits, because it's a purchase made on false terms of agreement. Thus, if someone is selling chicken that a company is advertising as "under 5g of fat per boneless piece" but are actually 60g of fat, of course the company should be punished somehow, and not just by civil suits.

 

[ARealConservative]

In a free market, would most food products be labeled for their nutritional content? Would the labels look anything like they do today? What might nutrition information look like on a free-market box of cereal?

no.

Most people don't care that much about what they do to their bodies. The great unwashed drive the free market

 

[Romulus]

This is why the proper role of gov is essential. You cant just rely someone selling a product to be honest. The challenge is getting an effective, moral gov agency to do its job, without being corrupted by special interests. It always comes back to the morality of people.

 

[teacherone]

Here is an amazing PRIVATE company which tests all sorts of products for chemicals and writes extremely detailed articles after thorough chemical analyses and quality tests. If you speak German, this magazine is a must-- it tests accuracy in labels and performance claims. Products which score high on its tests proudly sport the logo and the month/ year tested.

To be trusted before any government agency.

http://www.oekotest.de/

 

[Mahkato]

This is why the proper role of gov is essential. You cant just rely someone selling a product to be honest. The challenge is getting an effective, moral gov agency to do its job, without being corrupted by special interests. It always comes back to the morality of people.

Who will watch the watchers?

 

[Liberty Rebellion]

This is why the proper role of gov is essential. You cant just rely someone selling a product to be honest. The challenge is getting an effective, moral gov agency to do its job, without being corrupted by special interests. It always comes back to the morality of people.

Why does there need to be a gov't agency to regulate? Simply bring charges against any producer who committs fraud or harm to the consumers that purchased their product

Moral gov agency? lol

 

[Mini-Me]

http://kosherfood.about.com/od/guidetokosherfoodlabels/ss/symbols.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthodox_Union
etc.

Anyone who doesn't already know the answer here should do some research on Kosher certification. Private kosher certification agencies are thriving, and major food companies seek their certification. Very few people give a shit about Kosherness compared to nutritional facts and ingredients, yet it's still somehow profitable enough for food companies to seek this certification and compete based on it. Also, these agencies perform such thorough inspections that plants/factories certified by them are often exempt from the much less stringent government inspections.

...but of course, no such thing could ever possibly happen for regular nutritional facts in the absence of the FDA and USDA (which an order of magnitude more people care about), because liberals say so.

I should point out that I worked for a foodservice distributor for a few summers while I was in college and for a short time thereafter. Our customers (restaurants, hospitals, etc.) were always asking for nutritional information for our products, because the end consumers often wanted to know. Even in the foodservice industry (and before any actual legal requirements), having readily available nutritional facts was becoming a point of competition, and my bosses were afraid of losing business to larger competitors if we couldn't make all of this information available. That was my job: Obtain the nutritional information from thousands and thousands of products from manufacturers, etc. and making it readily available to our customers from a central location. There were no legal requirements that we do this, but we had to do it anyway, because the market was forcing us. (This was also when I learned all about kosher certification. )

This is just one more example of how the free market actually works when the government gets out of the way and lets it.

 

[Disconsolate]

In a free market, would most food products be labeled for their nutritional content? Would the labels look anything like they do today? What might nutrition information look like on a free-market box of cereal?

If enough people wanted it, I think they would be labeled.

It's a great competitive edge. If you go into a store, which would you rather buy: an unmarked food package, or one that tells you what's inside? You could risk the unmarked, or take safety in eating the marked.

As for an FDA type company, there would probably be companies that gave their stamp of approval on items. The better you are at certifying products, the better your business. If you fail to catch poison eggs or peanut butter someone will likely take you over.

 

[2young2vote]

Some would, some wouldn't. I know that the ice cream shop that i work at wouldn't do it for our wholesale and pretty much nobody would care.

 

[TCE]

Go to a food production factory as I have and you'll see how ineffective government truly is. These factories can do anything they want when the government isn't there inspecting them and they'll get away with it. Only once every couple of years when the government comes along do they need to make sure they're "up to code."

Romulus: There is no such thing because man is corruptible, especially when he has nothing to gain otherwise. The people can always be bought off, and these corporations have the money to do so repeatedly.