firstsgtmike
07-19-03, 03:19 AM
Thursday, July 17, 2003
By Radley Balko
Fox News
In July of 2000, after months of deliberation and fierce lobbying from interested advocacy groups, after determined research and debate and consternation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture finally issued its much-anticipated ruling:
Henceforth, the majority of the holes in every slice of Grade A Swiss cheese sold in America would need to be between 3/8 and 13/16 of an inch in diameter. This represented a sea change from the previous guidelines, which set Swiss cheese holes parameters at 11/16 of an inch to 13/16 of an inch.
Also, “the cheese shall be properly set and shall possess well-developed round oval-shaped eyes which are uniformly distributed.” Since 1953, the USDA has had a Swiss cheese team of overseers, and employs a team of Swiss cheese graders, who evaluate the holes in your cheese using 22 different classifications, including “cabbage, collapsed, dull, dead, frog mouth, gassy, nesty, one-sided, underset, or uneven.”
There are about 4,500 new regulations issued every year. Last year, on average, the federal government issued about 300 new regulations each business day.
All of these regulations carry the weight of law, yet none of them are actually voted on by Congress, and a sparse few are ever aired for public debate. There’s also little oversight, or any attempt to see if the regulations issued actually achieve their intended effect.
By Radley Balko
Fox News
In July of 2000, after months of deliberation and fierce lobbying from interested advocacy groups, after determined research and debate and consternation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture finally issued its much-anticipated ruling:
Henceforth, the majority of the holes in every slice of Grade A Swiss cheese sold in America would need to be between 3/8 and 13/16 of an inch in diameter. This represented a sea change from the previous guidelines, which set Swiss cheese holes parameters at 11/16 of an inch to 13/16 of an inch.
Also, “the cheese shall be properly set and shall possess well-developed round oval-shaped eyes which are uniformly distributed.” Since 1953, the USDA has had a Swiss cheese team of overseers, and employs a team of Swiss cheese graders, who evaluate the holes in your cheese using 22 different classifications, including “cabbage, collapsed, dull, dead, frog mouth, gassy, nesty, one-sided, underset, or uneven.”
There are about 4,500 new regulations issued every year. Last year, on average, the federal government issued about 300 new regulations each business day.
All of these regulations carry the weight of law, yet none of them are actually voted on by Congress, and a sparse few are ever aired for public debate. There’s also little oversight, or any attempt to see if the regulations issued actually achieve their intended effect.