A nationwide survey from Consumers Union—the group that publishes Consumer Reports magazine—found that 86% of more than a thousand adults said they would like to see more antibiotic-free meat on store shelves.
Some 60% said they’d be willing to pay more for it, according to CU’s news release.
Wait—I take that back. This isn’t “news.”
Any survey that asks people whether they prefer an improved product over an unimproved one yields results in the 80th (and above) percentile. But that’s because you’re asking what pollsters call a “throwaway question.”
- Would you be in favor of engineering that would produce safer highways?
- Do you think the government should more strictly regulate hazardous toys?
- Would you support laws that would ensure safer food products in restaurants and supermarkets?
You get the idea. Offer a thousand people a clear choice between the status quo and something better, and you’ll reliably get 80%-plus to agree with the statement. In fact, whenever you get 80% of people to agree on anything, you know right there your survey is flawed.
What was less publicized but more relevant to those in the meat industry, however, wasn’t the biased questions but Consumers Union’s strategy for moving forward on an issue they have embraced for years.
“If we are going to tackle this problem, we have to reduce the use [of antibiotics] in animals,” Jean Halloran, the group’s Director of Food Policy Initiatives, told reporters in discussing antibiotic resistance. “The government seems unable to take this step, so we’re looking at the marketplace. It’s supermarkets who stock these products, and consumers who buy them.”
That’s a well-known tactic: Attack the retailer, who must face consumers on a daily basis. Get them to suffer pushback, the thinking goes, and they’ll demand changes from their suppliers, rather than face complaints from customers.
Nothing wrong with using the marketplace to drive change. Most of the time, that’s a more effective way to promote an agenda.
The problem with Consumers Union however, is that they have a litany of problems they want “solved,” and they’re certainly not limiting their advocacy to marketplace manipulation. CU has been one of the most vocal supporters of regulatory action to ban the use of animal antibiotics, and their frustration in not getting such a law passed is evident in the quote from the policy director.
Moreover, the group’s motives are tainted by its relentless promotion of the idea that virtually every product and every company is flawed. Consumers Union makes its money by playing the watchdog role, alerting us apparently helpless consumers to all the hazardous products, defective appliances and corporate rip-offs ongoing in our modern world. It’s a role they play to the hilt.
In fact, if you were to immerse yourself in their reporting, you begin to get the feeling that we’re surrounded by danger everywhere. Here’s a snapshot of the product recalls Consumers Union is currently touting: Gas ranges, ceramic heaters, ceiling-mounted light fixtures, freezable gel packs, birth control pills, high chairs, coffemakers, motorcycles, LED lights, toilets, baby cribs, desk chairs, dishwashers, car seats, ceiling fans, cabinet locks, baby formula.
That’s just a partial list—for this month.
Think that probably some of those brands are, in fact, defective and deserved to be recalled? Probably. But how about automobile recalls? You might believe that there are “good” car companies, and “bad” ones, and only the bad ones get recalled. But check out the list of automakers who initiated recalls—again, this month only: Lexus, BMW, Mercedes, Acura, Honda, Toyota, Ford, Buick, Subaru, Hyundai, Infiniti, Kia, Chevrolet, Jeep.
Did I miss anyone?
Some of the recalls listed above, when you read the actual details, were triggered by a single defective product that caused a problem. But we live in a litigious society, and no manufacturer takes a chance on triggering a class-action lawsuit that might involve thousands of people who purchased their product. Recalls have become a defensive tactic whenever there is a documented problem, usually not as a result of faulty design or manufacturing but from misuse by the purchaser.
Only Consumers Union doesn’t tell you that. Their value as a watchdog—and their ability to sell their subscriptions and their services—depends on maintaining a climate of fear and loathing toward corporate brands and large-scale (read, deep pocket) manufacturers.
So like the boy who cried wolf, sometimes it’s difficult to determine the real level of risk when accessing CU’s massive database on defective products, dangerous appliances and faulty household goods. To the operatives at CU, the world is one giant risk pool, and we’re all in danger of drowning.
Unless you renew that subscription to Consumer Reports so you can take in yet another month’s worth of threatening news about the dangerous world in which we live.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Dan Murphy, a veteran food-industry journalist and commentator.
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