2021年经济学人 美国食品自治，如何保证安全（在线收听）

United States

美国版块

Food rules

食物规则

Reaping what you sow

种啥得啥

Maine's new "right to food" could sprout legal challenges

缅因州的新“食品权”可能引发法律质疑

Like every farmer Courtney Hammond, who grows blueberries and cranberries in Washington County, Maine, has a lot of worries.

像每个在缅因州华盛顿县种植蓝莓和蔓越莓的农民一样，考特尼·哈蒙德也有很多担忧。

He frets about weather, invasive species, failed crops and global prices.

他担心气候不好、物种入侵、收成不好和全球价格等问题。

To abide by federal food-safety laws, he has had to do training, maintain meticulous records, have insect- and rodent-control plans and document daily the sanitation of his processing equipment.

为了遵守联邦食品安全法，他必须接受培训，保持详细的记录，制定昆虫和啮齿动物控制计划，每天记录加工设备的卫生情况。

It is a tremendous amount of work but it means, he says, "I don't have to worry about anybody getting sick from eating anything that leaves my farm."

这是一项庞大的工作，他说，“但这意味着，我不必担心任何人因为吃了从我农场生产的任何食品而生病。”

Now he is worried that a new law may put his hard work in jeopardy.

现在他担心一项新法律可能会危及他的辛勤工作。

Earlier this month 61% of voters opted to change the state constitution to ensure that all Mainers had a "right to food", the first law of its kind in America.

本月早些时候，61%的选民选择修改州宪法，以确保所有缅因州人都有“食物权”，这是美国第一部此类法律。

The constitutional amendment’s main proponents included a conservative lobsterman, a liberal raw-milk organic farmer, the Sportsman Alliance (a hunting group) and Cumberland County Food Security Council.

宪法修正案的主要支持者包括一位保守的龙虾养殖者、一位自由的生奶有机农场主、运动员联盟（一个狩猎团体）和坎伯兰县食品安全委员会。

The pandemic has shone a light on food insecurity in Maine.

这场疫情暴露了缅因州的粮食不安全状况。

Now, Mainers have the "unalienable right to food…to grow, raise, harvest, produce and consume the food of their own choosing".

现在，缅因人拥有“不可剥夺的食物权……种植、饲养、收获、生产和消费他们自己选择的食物”。

The amendment sounded innocuous, but sceptics are wary of its impact.

这项修正案听起来无伤大雅，但怀疑者对其影响持谨慎态度。

Marge Kilkelly, a former state lawmaker who raises turkeys as well as pigs and goats, points out that most people don’t know much about farming:

饲养火鸡、猪和山羊的前州议员玛吉·基尔凯利指出，大多数人对农业不太了解：

"It does not happen in an instant.You don’t just get the turkey seed and put water on it. Poof, there’s a turkey."

“这不是一瞬间发生的。不能拿一颗火鸡种子，浇点水，噗，就有一只火鸡长出来，不是这么简单。”

Opponents of the amendment worry that its vague wording opens towns to legal challenges over local zoning and other ordinances.

反对该修正案的人担心，该修正案含糊不清的措辞使城镇在地方分区和其他条例方面面临法律挑战。

Rebecca Graham of the Maine Municipal Association expects everything from hunting laws to food programmes to be challenged, at great cost to the taxpayer.

缅因州市政协会的丽贝卡·格雷厄姆预计，从狩猎法到食品计划，一切都将受到挑战，纳税人将为此付出巨大代价。

Rules like the one in Portland, the state’s largest city, which allows residents a maximum of six hens (no roosters) could be ignored or challenged in court—never mind cows grazing in front gardens.

波特兰是该州最大的城市，允许居民最多饲养六只母鸡（不能有公鸡）的规定可能会被忽视或在法庭上受到质疑，更不用说在前花园吃草的奶牛了。

Janelle Tirrell, head of the Maine Veterinary Medical Association, is concerned about the treatment of farm animals by people ill-equipped to look after them: people will "use that right-to-food defence to justify the keeping of animals in ways that violate our current laws".

缅因州兽医协会负责人珍妮尔·蒂雷尔，对那些没有能力照料家畜的人对家畜的治疗方案表示担忧：人们将“利用食物权作为辩护理由，证明饲养家畜是合理的，这完全违反了我们现行的法律”。

Others foresee environmental impacts, such as contaminated water supplies.

其他人则预见到环境影响，如供水受到污染。

Some farmers fear that amateurs will introduce invasive species that could damage their crops.

一些农民担心业余爱好者会引入物种导致生物入侵，从而损害他们的作物。

Billy Bob Faulkingham, the Republican state representative who championed the measure, pooh-poohs these concerns.

支持这项措施的共和党州代表比利·鲍伯·福克汉姆对这些担忧嗤之以鼻。

He thinks court challenges are unlikely.

他认为人们不太可能向法庭提出质疑。

Frivolous ones will be dismissed.

轻率马虎的人将被解雇。

The law will give Mainers more ownership of the food supply, he argues: some 90% of the state’s food is imported.

他认为，这项法律将赋予缅因州更多的食品供应自主权：该州90%的食品是进口的。

Alluding to the constitutional right to bear arms, he says: "I call this the second amendment of food."

在稍微提到宪法赋予的携带武器的权利时，他说：“我称之为食品的第二修正案。”

His partner across the aisle, Craig Hickman, a Democratic state senator and an organic farmer, says not everyone is going to start farming or raising animals, but this will "inspire people to shop locally" or even share their land with their neighbours.

他的竞选对手、民主党州参议员、有机农户克雷格·希克曼说，不是每个人都会开始耕种或饲养动物，但这将“激励人们在当地购物”甚至与邻居分享他们的土地。

This chimes with local culture.

这符合当地文化。

Despite its relatively small farm industry, Maine supports its producers.

尽管缅因州的农业规模相对较小，但该州支持其生产者。

The state's constitution gives farms property-tax breaks.

该州宪法给予农场财产税减免。

Some communities pay people to farm their land.

一些社区付钱让人们耕种他们的土地。

The state has been experimenting with food sovereignty.

该州一直在试验粮食主权。

More than a hundred towns have adopted ordinances that allow food "self-government", letting towns make their own rules for food products.

100多个城镇通过了允许食品“自治”的法令，允许城镇制定自己的食品规则。

Producers in these places can sell directly to customers, offering, say, unpasteurised milk without a licence (meat and poultry are excluded).

这些地方的生产商可以直接向客户销售，比如说，提供未经消毒的牛奶而无需许可证（肉类和家禽除外）。

Farm-to-table restaurants are immensely popular.

从农场到餐桌的餐馆非常受欢迎。

Maine is a "foodie" destination.

缅因州是一个“美食”目的地。

Tourists flock there for its lobsters, blueberries and cranberries.

游客们蜂拥到这里来吃龙虾、蓝莓和蔓越莓。

Julie Ann Smith, of the Maine Farm Bureau, wonders how food safety can be maintained without regulations.

缅因州农业局的朱莉·安·史密斯在想，如果没有规章制度，食品安全如何得以维持。

That is why Mr Hammond is so anxious about the new amendment.

这就是哈蒙德先生对新修正案如此焦虑的原因。

It will take only one tourist sickened by blueberries sold by an amateur to taint all Maine farmers, not just "the guy with three tomato plants on his porch".

只需一名游客因业余爱好者出售的蓝莓而患病，缅因州所有农民就都会受到影响，而不仅仅是“门廊上有三株番茄植物的家伙”。