Posted on 09/19/2004 7:30:45 PM PDT by A. Pole
Two Czech farmers have come up with an ingenious way to get around European Union regulations which they say are threatening their livelihood.
Petr Hajek and Pavel Stepanek from the southern Bohemia region used to make a good living from sales of their goats' cheese, made to an old family recipe.
But since the country joined the European Union on 1 May things have become more difficult.
The men are unable to meet strict EU standards and so are prevented from selling their cheese for human consumption.
"If I wanted to sell goats' cheese to people officially, I would have to invest at least 3m Czech crowns ($115,000) in installing farm hygiene equipment here," Mr Hajek told the Czech daily Lidove Noviny.
"Where would I find that kind of money?" he asked.
'Tested on humans'
But Mr Hajek has come up with a solution to the problem. He is now marketing the produce as animal food.
He told the newspaper that he had to put a large notice on his door to avoid being fined for violating EU regulations.
The notice reads: "Goats' cheese. Home-made to a family recipe handed down through six generations. Completely in violation of EU regulations, should be used as animal food. Tested on humans."
Mr Hajek considers the notice to be a protest against Brussels bureaucracy and the behaviour of what he called "holier-than-thou" Czech officials and vets.
"All this is just bias towards mass producers and globalisation at the expense of small farmers," he said.
So far he says he has had no complaints from his customers. "I make goats' cheese the same way as dozens of my ancestors, and it never made any of them even slightly queasy."
Marvelous. These men have the right attitude. If the Euros still manage to shut them down, we need to get them over here, and set them up making gourmet cheese.
Good for Petr.
ping
Yep, Nationality is no boundary to a corporate screwin. Folks, we are living the life of Shadowrunners now. Corporations and Rich elites rule.
What a crock of cr**p.
This is just an expensive travelling road show that commutes eternally at great expense between Brusseles and Salzburg.
Yeah; but, this crock is nothing compared to the WTO and our own rich elite here lining their pockets by throwing us all out in the streets.
We do the same thing to small farmers in the US with FDA regulations.
I wonder whatever happened to those cheesy regs? (Sorry, I couldn't help it.) My guess is they fell off the radar screen and are in force today.
[...] What a great country, I thought, where the question of whether or not I can seek relief from the courts for a lesbian seducing my wife depends on what side of the state line I'm on. But then I remembered the cheese. In Europe, the laws are the same, the truck weights are the same, the prohibition on capital punishment is the same. But each French town has its own distinctive cheese. In America, the laws on semi-automatics and sodomy change every few miles, but 260 million people are subject to a ruthlessly enforced, centralised one-size-fits-all cheese regime. Americans are cheese-surrendering eating monkeys.
"Live free or die" is New Hampshire's state motto. But, when my wife runs off with a lesbian, not only won't I be able to bring an adultery charge, I won't even be able to console myself with a decent cheese sandwich. C'mon, you wimps: live Brie or die!
Globalism at work once again.
We're a little stuffy in my town too. Stores have signs saying "local checks only."
Nazis suck no matter what era they crop up. There's only one "final solution" for them and the moderators tend to dislike my suggestions, so I'll leave it at "brainpan" and "don't tremble or hesitate".
Cool. I've played Twilight 2000 - but don't remember much about it - been too long. Played Shadowrun, Star Wars, Star trek RPG, Robotech, AD&D, etc, ect... lol. Haven't played paper games in years; but, have spent a fair amount of time rolling dice and wandering around Gen Con in my time. lol.
Love games; but, sometimes it isn't so great to see real life mimic the game thesis from something like Shadowrun. I get the feeling every once in a while that Politics is nothing more than the art of distracting the nation so the Rich friends of the party in charge can exploit it for gain. There's an ongoing side show of the latest thing that is supposed to benefit society. And rather than benefitting it, we become enslaved to it. All the things which in the 50s and 60s they were saying would allow people to work shorter weeks and have more leisure time have contributed to making them rather have to work harder and now instead of one income, a household has to have two or three to support a family instead of the one that did it back then. And it's no secret why. When there is more than a 300 to 1 disparity between executive and average worker pay and it's evergrowing while the employee is being demanded to do more and more for a lesser share of the pie - it's easy to understand.
We've all but forgotten Enron, Global Crossing, Microsoft, etc. at this point while the corporate media keeps us full of how Geraldo Rivera looks being blown about in a storm after the bush Justice dept let MS off the hook.. shhhh.
Common sense is supposed to be buried and we're all supposed to just shut up and obey the master like good little sheep - not make waves... Geofrey Goins Don't seem so nuts nowdays.
Yes, the Good Soldier was always underestimated. He had strategery.
I am aware of folks around here (TX) who sell unpasteurized milk and cheese, and it is advertised as for animals, and not for human consumption.
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