eagleeyedtiger

It seems neither of us know enough about the industry to speculate, but logically speaking, if they had followed the correct MPI processes and the process itself was at fault a fine wouldn't have been levied against them in the first place.

Like the food safety guy said; they had a responsibility to manage any potential risks to consumers. It's not like they are a new inexperienced business, they've been in the same business for over 100 years. This did happen almost four years ago, I'm fairly confident that they've made enough profit in that time to easily pay this fine without breaking a sweat.

Yeah I'm not sure, the wording isn't so clear. But still, they knew it was carrying "metal sulphide concentrates (zinc and lead)" on it's previous voyage. A quick google says: "Metal sulfide concentrate is a refined ore that contains high concentrations of valuable metals and has had impurities removed."

Is it really suitable to risk cleaning it then transporting consumable food items in it? Especially one that was carrying lead of all things? As the Food safety deputy director general said:

"New Zealand Sugar Company knew what its responsibilities were to consumers - ensuring the safety and suitability of its products and managing any potential risk to consumers," Arbuckle said.

Also the fact they didn't even detect the extent of the lead contamination until after it had already been used in production.

Samples were taken between 15 and 24 September for testing, but Chelsea Sugar followed its normal process for distribution and sale.

"The test result on 7 October showed high readings of lead contamination, but rather than take immediate action and stop production and distribution, they instead sought more testing which confirmed the same result," Arbuckle said.

"Some of this product was sold between October and early November. We were not informed of the lead contamination until 3 November, which is unacceptable.

I'm not saying they should be made bankrupt, but it should probably have more impact than "the cost of doing business"

I still remember downloading The College Dropout when it released and loving it so much I had to share it with my friends. His whole album run up to Yeezus was great. But yeah the dude's been mentally ill for awhile now. Haven't listened to anything from him for a long, long time now.

I'm no expert on bulk shipping, but I suspect it's a case of trying to save time and money on finding another ship that was suitable. Putting their bottom line before safety. I wonder if the fine is actually even bigger than the costs and delays of them finding a new suitable ship.

Before choosing the vessel, Chelsea Sugar had been advised that the Rin Treasure had failed a survey report and was not fit to transport bulk sugar. Despite a cleanliness report, the cleaning of the ship's hold was not effective, leading to the sugar's contamination.

Are we sure they were trying to do the right thing? They were told the ship was not fit for transporting bulk sugar.

I think it should be the other way around, the financial impact should make so they don't even entertain the risk of jeopardizing the consumer's safety in future.

There I fixed it for you :)

I guess it's up to the American citizens. I wonder how much worse it'll become before they start really fighting back.

George Carlin said it years ago but it bears repeating:

“But there’s a reason. There’s a reason. There’s a reason for this, there’s a reason education sucks, and it’s the same reason that it will never, ever, ever be fixed. It’s never gonna get any better. Don’t look for it. Be happy with what you got. Because the owners of this country don't want that. I'm talking about the real owners now, the real owners, the big wealthy business interests that control things and make all the important decisions.

Forget the politicians. The politicians are put there to give you the idea that you have freedom of choice. You don't. You have no choice. You have owners. They own you. They own everything. They own all the important land. They own and control the corporations. They’ve long since bought and paid for the senate, the congress, the state houses, the city halls, they got the judges in their back pockets and they own all the big media companies so they control just about all of the news and information you get to hear. They got you by the balls. They spend billions of dollars every year lobbying, lobbying, to get what they want.

Well, we know what they want. They want more for themselves and less for everybody else, but I'll tell you what they don’t want: They don’t want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking. They don’t want well informed, well educated people capable of critical thinking. They’re not interested in that. That doesn’t help them. That's against their interests. That's right. They don’t want people who are smart enough to sit around a kitchen table to figure out how badly they’re getting fucked by a system that threw them overboard 30 fucking years ago. They don’t want that.

You know what they want? They want obedient workers. Obedient workers. People who are just smart enough to run the machines and do the paperwork, and just dumb enough to passively accept all these increasingly shittier jobs with the lower pay, the longer hours, the reduced benefits, the end of overtime and the vanishing pension that disappears the minute you go to collect it, and now they’re coming for your Social Security money. They want your retirement money. They want it back so they can give it to their criminal friends on Wall Street, and you know something? They’ll get it. They’ll get it all from you, sooner or later, 'cause they own this fucking place. It's a big club, and you ain’t in it. You and I are not in the big club.

And by the way, it's the same big club they use to beat you over the head with all day long when they tell you what to believe. All day long beating you over the head in their media telling you what to believe, what to think and what to buy. The table is tilted folks. The game is rigged, and nobody seems to notice, nobody seems to care.

Good honest hard-working people -- white collar, blue collar, it doesn’t matter what color shirt you have on -- good honest hard-working people continue -- these are people of modest means -- continue to elect these rich cocksuckers who don’t give a fuck about them. They don’t give a fuck about you. They don’t give a fuck about you. They don't care about you at all -- at all -- at all. And nobody seems to notice, nobody seems to care. That's what the owners count on; the fact that Americans will probably remain willfully ignorant of the big red, white and blue dick that's being jammed up their assholes everyday.

Because the owners of this country know the truth: it's called the American Dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it.”

Unless America finds a way to get the money out of politics, I don't think it's problems will ever get fixed by politicians. The class divide will widen and ultra wealthy will grab more money and power, while those below will be busy with culture war distractions and not focused on the class war.

Everyone needs to remember the Paradox of tolerance. Allowing intolerance will only breed more intolerance. Everyone should speak out and shine a light on it when they can.

Well then the only option is to throw him into an active volcano

Thank you, I've been trying to share this video wherever I can.

People also need to be aware of Curtis Yarvin, founder of the anti-egalitarian and anti-democratic philosophical movement known as the Dark Enlightenment. Many of the rich tech fascists in Silicon Valley share his ideas and ideals. From his wikipedia page:

Yarvin's ideas have been influential among right-libertarians and paleolibertarians, and the public discourses of prominent investors like Peter Thiel have echoed Yarvin's project of seceding from the United States to establish tech-CEO dictatorships. Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, an informal adviser to Donald Trump, has spoken approvingly of Yarvin's thinking. Political strategist Steve Bannon has read and admired his work. Vice-president JD Vance has cited Yarvin as an influence, saying in 2021, "​So there's this guy Curtis Yarvin who has written about these things," which included "Retire All Government Employees," or RAGE, written in 2012. Vance said that if Trump became president again, "I think what Trump should do, if I was giving him one piece of advice: Fire every single midlevel bureaucrat, every civil servant in the administrative state, and replace them with our people. And when the courts stop you, stand before the country and say, 'The chief justice has made his ruling. Now let him enforce it.'"

This page also documents a lot of the Venture Capitial Extremism happening right now: https://www.vcinfodocs.com/

That's hopeful to hear, but just reading the article, two things stand out:

The reform eliminated the word “currency” when referring to bitcoin, but says it is “legal tender.” Despite the lack of clarity, it lifts, as required by the IMF, the obligation to accept it in transactions or debt payments, a key condition for it to be “legal tender,” according to economic analysts. With the change, “if someone owes you money and wants to pay you in bitcoin, you can refuse to be paid in bitcoin, but you cannot refuse if it’s legal tender,” economist Carlos Acevedo explained.

The government, she assured, will continue buying bitcoin and having reserves in this cryptocurrency. According to the National Bitcoin Office, El Salvador has 6,050 bitcoins worth $634.8 million. “President Bukele continues buying bitcoin, we have a Bitcoin Office, we have the Bitcoin Law, bitcoin can be used in El Salvador. It hasn’t been an easy road,” Mayorga summarized.

They are just removing it as "legal tender" to meet the conditions for an IMF loan and will continue investing in bitcoin.