Food Policy: Gov’t ratcheting up effort to control what goes in your mouth, on your plate

Michelle Obama has been working overtime from DC to make school lunches even more unbearable. She’s apparently inspired statists from sea to shining sea to increase their meddling in the arena of all things edible.Government-organized and funded  ”Food Policy Councils” are popping up across the country and from Murphy to Manteo.

The North Carolina Department of Agriculture had a Sustainable Food Policy Council that — fortunately — got wiped out by our extreme right wing™  legislature in 2013. Here was its mission:

It is the purpose of the North Carolina Sustainable Local Food Advisory Council to contribute to building a local food economy, thereby benefiting North Carolina by creating jobs, stimulating statewide economic development, circulating money from local food sales within local communities, preserving open space, decreasing the use of fossil fuel and thus reducing carbon emissions, preserving and protecting the natural environment, increasing consumer access to fresh and nutritious foods, and providing greater food security for all North Carolinians.

A touch of Orwell.  A touch of Marx.  And a lot of our tax dollars and personal freedoms down the drain. 

There is an International Food Policy Research Institute out there that believes “large-scale land deals” are discriminatory against women and need to be cracked down on.

Look at what happened earlier this year in Onslow County:

Area officials hope a newly established council will identify issues related to the area’s food supply.

The Food Policy Council was established during the Jan. 6 Onslow County Board of Commissioners meeting. According to information from the county, the council will research, educate the community, develop strategies and make policy recommendations that will encourage the development of a “robust, sustainable local food economy and a healthier population.” […] 

In the western part of the state, we’ve got one of these councils partnered with Western Carolina University: 

[…] The WNCFPC brings together food producers, policy leaders, food security agencies, and economic advocates to address policy needs for agricultural development and food insecurity in the seven western counties of North Carolina: Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Swain, Macon, Jackson and Haywood.

This council aims to build more effective programs and policies to strengthen WNC’s food economy and economic security for all persons and to mitigate the effects of food insecurity in the WNC region, especially for children and seniors, by advocating for more effective policies and stronger local economies. […] 

Charlotte-Mecklenburg has one of these councils that is all up in the business of the local public school system.  Chatham County has even got one. 

Encouraging nutritious eating is one thing. (Mom is the one whose job it is to tell you to eat your vegetables.)  But hiding behind “food policy” as a way to block new commercial development, force-feed us even more regulations,  or to intrude further into people’s lives is another matter altogether.