Food-Safety Agencies Team Up, Find Unbelievably Stupid New Way to Waste Money

The goal of a new, joint USDA/FDA/CDC marketing campaign, Food Safe Families, is to "illustrate safe food handling tips, and to convey that food poisoning is a relevant issue." The ads putatively remind eaters to cook food, chill it, separate certain foods, and clean food surfaces.

But any chance the four bizarro, non sequitur Ad Council spots actually convey such messages is pretty slim. But don't take my word for it! Here's "Cook."

Other spots here.

Food-safety advocate Marion Nestle, not exactly the biggest critic of government spending on food regulation, wonders what exactly this project that "reportedly cost $2 million" will accomplish. She refers to the pig spot as "[h]umorous maybe, but how will it convince anyone to clean up the kitchen?" It won't of course.

Frankly, when it comes to pigs in saunas, I prefer this meta work of art, Pigs in a Sauna, by "Storyteller and Miniaturist" Wanna in El Paso. Look closely: the miniature pigs are in a pig sauna!

I should note that Pigs in a Sauna has nothing at all to do with the government's latest food-safety campaign. That said, it is as likely as is the government campaign to help people cook food safely, and probably did not cost taxpayers $2 million.

Baylen Linnekin is a lawyer and the executive director of Keep Food Legal, a nonprofit that promotes culinary freedom, the idea that people should be free to make and consume whatever commestibles they prefer. For more information and to join or donate, go here now.