In my previous career, I dealt with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for over 30 years – in other words, a lot. I sat in front of FDA investigators during inspections, I responded to FDA requests and inspection findings, and I wrote and implemented quality systems that conformed to FDA (and International Organization for Standardization [ISO]) guidelines. Some of the folks who worked for the FDA were smart, conscientious, and dedicated to public health. And, a lot of them were not. Over the years, in fact, I encountered a few who were downright clueless.
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Case in point: Some genius at the FDA has apparently decided that Costco, that giant big-box outlet store chain, should recall almost 80,000 pounds of butter. That’s almost 40 tons of spread. Why?
Because Costco’s labels don’t state that butter contains milk.
It’s butter stupidity!
Costco was forced to recall nearly 80,000 pounds of butter because the label failed to mention that the kitchen staple contains milk — and many social media users are rolling their eyes at the dairy dilemma.
The FDA sent out an initial recall for 79,200 pounds of Kirkland Signature butter due to the undeclared allergen in October. Packages for both the salted and unsalted Kirkland Signature Sweet Cream Butter list cream as an ingredient, but do not include an allergy warning that the butter “Contains Milk.”
The bizarre recall has left many internet users scratching their heads. The most common comment: “It’s butter.”
That’s not even margarinely logical. Honestly, this kind of stupidity, if not nipped in the bud, could spread around. Is there anyone with enough brains to pound sand who doesn’t know that butter is a dairy product? And that dairy products contain milk?
What’s next? Warning people that bacon contains pork? That beef contains cow?
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Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) started a pretty entertaining X threat on the issue.
The FDA stands ready at all times to enforce a mandatory reminder that butter “contains milk”—even to the point of requiring the recall of 80,000 pounds of perfectly good butter https://t.co/xR7dVyx75u
— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) November 11, 2024
He’s on a roll, you have to admit.
Couldn’t they just require Costco to put up a big sign in front of their butter section that says “CAUTION: BUTTER IS MADE FROM MILK”? After that, it’s really up to Darwin.
— Beekman (@BeekmanNoCo) November 11, 2024
To call this an act of government overreach is to engage in the grossest of understatements. Even if the FDA was determined to stick to this point, to somehow protect the tiny proportion of the dairy-challenged populace who don’t know where butter comes from, one would think that a simple request from the FDA to Costco that they put up a sign in front of the dairy case that said “CAUTION: Butter contains milk” would be sufficient. Barring that, just printing new labels stating “Contains Milk” and having store employees slap one on each package would surely address this non-existent issue.
Instead, almost 40 tons of butter will be recalled and likely destroyed, raising the cost of butter overall – quick, someone notify Joe Scarborough!
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See Related: Joe Scarborough’s Shock at Insane Cost of Butter Explains Exactly Why Media Elites Never Saw Trump Coming
This is udderly ridiculous. It’s a solution desperately seeking a problem. It doesn’t pass the stupid test. In January, when the Trump administration takes office, they’d butter sort this out, and fast!
