When Markets Go Bad II

The latest pet food recall (ht: Bourque) hit a lot closer to home. It now seems that Hills' Prescription Diet m/d Feline dry cat food is to be recalled as well. My cats eat another type of Hill's dry food, so that's really unsettling.

The breadth of this recall is really alarming, and while it's awfully premature to say for sure, the fact that pet food isn't regulated in Canada (where Menu Foods, the source of this fiasco is based) may well prove to be a major cause. All this reminds me of a common cry among free-marketeers: deregulate, and let the market sort out the winners and the losers. The problems is that this sorting process can be fatal.

Regulation is not a guarantee of anything, but the alternative is almost certainly more dangerous. I'm glad there's regulation of human food, I'm glad that restaurants have to pass inspections in Toronto. There are a number of things that markets do and do very well, but when it comes to an issue of safety, blind faith in the free market is not an acceptable option.