A dominant theme that has developed among the discussion of the recent Salmonella outbreak linked to peanuts and peanut products manufactured by the Peanut Corporation of America is the assertion that we need more regulation, and, in particular, more food inspection. What this assertion assumes is that manufacturers simply cannot be trusted to produce safe food in the absence of some form of thorough supervision. This assumption brings to mind--or my mind--Socrates' discussion in The Republic of the ring of Gyges, which bestowed the power of absolute invisibility on all who wore the ring. Because invisibility allowed even the just (so-called) to commit unjust acts with impunity, then the difference between just and unjust acts was said to rest solely on the likelihood getting caught. Thus goes the argument for increased inspection. And it is an argument that, in the context of food, entirely misses the point.
Here is what Socrates had to say about the ring of Gyges:
Suppose now that there were two such magic rings, and the just put on one of them and the unjust the other; no man can be imagined to be of such an iron nature that he would stand fast in justice. No man would keep his hands off what was not his own when he could safely take what he liked out of the market, or go into houses and lie with any one at his pleasure, or kill or release from prison whom he would, and in all respects be like a god among men. Then the actions of the just would be as the actions of the unjust; they would both come at last to the same point. And this we may truly affirm to be a great proof that a man is just, not willingly or because he thinks that justice is any good to him individually, but of necessity, for wherever any one thinks that he can safely be unjust, there he is unjust. For all men believe in their hearts that injustice is far more profitable to the individual than justice, and he who argues as I have been supposing, will say that they are right. If you could imagine any one obtaining this power of becoming invisible, and never doing any wrong or touching what was another's, he would be thought by the lookers-on to be a most wretched idiot, although they would praise him to one another's faces, and keep up appearances with one another from a fear that they too might suffer injustice.
— Plato's Republic, book 2.
At the outset, it should be emphasized that this argument is not one that Socrates ultimately embraces with regard to what makes a person just, or what justice is. Like his seeming embrace of the argument made by Thrasychus that "justice is the advantage of the stronger" (often re-stated as "might makes right"), the embrace is for purposes of refutation during the give and take of the dialogue. But applying the notion of invisibility to issue of food safety and inspection, I am struck that proponents of intensive inspection have adopted--arguably uncritically--the idea that the invisible cannot be trusted. And while, as a practical matter, this idea is too often proven true to be fully disputed, it ignores all of the other ways that doing the right thing--i.e., not intentionally selling contaminated peanut butter--can be given its proper due.
I thought of this reading the diary by JSkoeze, A Peanut Maker Watches in Horror. This part of the diary struck me in particular (emphasis my own):
Is that a problem? In PCA's case, yes. But would an additional annual inspection have prevented it? Two more inspections? Three? Would combining USDA's food regulation authority with the FDA's have prevented this? How, exactly? Would having federal inspectors replace state inspectors help? The inspector who called on us had worked for the State of Michigan for years before moving to the FDA. Would some enhanced ability to trace food help? Only after the fact, when it is too late. HACCP plans for all food manufacturers? PCA had one. How about reporting all salmonella and other microbial tests to the FDA? How many people would it take to police and follow up on millions of tests conducted by hundreds of labs, and by companies in house?
I'm OK with all of the above, and with having my taxes raised to pay for it all. But the safety of our food is still going to depend on ordinary people struggling to do the right thing every day.
This view comes much closer to the one that Socrates ends up embracing about the nature of justice and what it means to be a just person. But from a purely economic point of view, should not we ask: How do we make the market reward the peanut maker that has watched PCA in horror?
In a previous diary I discussed why the economic incentives are all out of whack when it comes to food safety. See A Market for Peanuts: The Inevitability of Unsafe Food. When you look at melamine in milk, and Salmonella in peanut butter, you see the exact same profit motive creating an incentive for lower quality and unsafe food. This is particularly the case with commodity products--i.e., ingredients that tend to move through commerce invisibly. Because there is no economic reward for improving quality or safety, and the spot-market creates one-on transactions that are only about the short-term, it is simply naive to think that food is going to be safe unless safety is made profitable.
A perfect example of how to do this is the Label Rouge system in France (and the EU). In that system, producers who agree to meet stringent quality guidelines, and comply with a rigorous certification and inspection regime, are allowed to use the Label Rouge mark on the product, a clear signal to buyers of a significantly higher quality product. And, not surprisingly, such products carry a significant price-premium that translates into higher profits. But whether to participate in this system is entirely voluntary.
So my argument is this: let the Wild West attitude prevail in the "free" market where PCA and its ilk does business. But make sure that consumers are able to differentiate the products sold by those companies, from those who, in the words of JSkoeze, "do the right thing every day." By empowering consumers to choose safety and quality, the market might just start creating safer food. Imagine that!