The name is absent

ZERO TOLERANCE WITH CHANGING TECHNOLOGY
IN THE CANNING INDUSTRY

William F. Allewelt, Jr.

President, Tri/Valley Growers

We are all well aware that through the lawmaking process,
government continues to become more and more involved in
shaping the social and economic directions of American life. As a
result, this government managerial establishment now must be
viewed as a new institutional force on American life. It ranks in
comparable influence to our historically recognized religious,
educational, economic, and lawmaking institutions.

What sets it apart from other institutions is that its
performance is essentially free from critical examination by the
public or its congressional representatives. This is a profound
difference, because the dynamic process of public acceptance or
rejection of either ideas or products is the vital force that moves our
traditional institutions to relevancy with contemporary society.

In the case of administration of federal law, competence in
performance takes on far greater meaning than whether taxpayers
are getting their money’s worth. There is substantial evidence that
in the absence of systematic critical examination of bureaucratic
performance, mismanagement can distort and even subvert the
intended objectives of underlying public policy.

As a participant within the food system, I am profoundly aware
of the genuinely frightening counter-productive economic burdens
that continue to grow in the private sector. These result from
forced compliance with regulatory requirements established by the
bureaucracy. They are so regressive and damaging as to appear
contrived to discredit underlying policy.

Ominous problems are expanding like a cancer in the producing
segments of our economy. This is because of the persistent failure
of congress to provide a critical overview of bureaucratic
performance in terms of public costs and public benefits.
California’s fruit and vegetable canning industry is the greatest
concentration of this form of food preservation in the world.

It is an economic misfortune of this industry that it is now
impacted by an expanding number of new federal laws that relate

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