Food + Law = Law as Ass

A 50 year old strawberry farm in Britain forced to shut down U-pick operations because the insurance indistry saw it as a factory and would have required handrails along the rows of berries?

Truth, not Monty Python! http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1190531/Pick-farm-forced-close-public-afford-health-safety-demands-handrails.html

And I thought we were the only country with molly-coddling laws.

The boo-hoos strike again!!!

I think the greater danger was all the unwashed (& pesticide sprayed) strawberries we used to eat as kids whilst collecting the ones we'd pay for

Something to think about and perhaps "savor" in idle moments...what a splendid world it would be if a magic wand could be waved and poof--all stupid politicians, estimate that to be about 99.8%, terrorists, gangs, drug dealers and similar scum, would disappear!
Too bad fantasy can't be reality...

I'm waiting for the day when we can't get Sauternes because the grapes have too much rot.

I wonder when the SPCDVF (Society for the Prevention fo Cruelty to Dumb Vegetables and Fruit) will object to stomping grapes as needlessly violent and likely to produce childhood trauma in impressionable youths....

This is all sort of at the opposite end of the spectrum from the sign I saw "Rabbits - U Catch Them' where a farmer offered to allow people with their own guns a venue for some wholesome outdoor activity in his woods.....

I can't really blame the insurance company here. If the British courts hold the farmer responsible for any misstep on the pick-your-own field (as they indeed did), then the situation is uninsurable unless drastic and silly measures are taken.

My astronomy club presents many free of charge public outreach and education programs where we set up our telescopes so that everyone can enjoy the sky. One of these days someone is going to turn their ankle in the dark, sue us, we'll lose our insurance, and the fun will be ruined for everyone.

Something has to be done about tort law.

-Paul W.

Paul
Fully agree that it's the law that has to change. Not to the extreme where we're put in unreasonable danger, but where minor risks (both in probability and severity) are an accepted part of life. Even more so with children, where we've become obsessed with avoiding the scraps and scrapes that were part and parcel of growing up and learning about risk/danger.

... but then this is now too close to politics so I'll leave it there

regards

Ian

I'm waiting for the day when we can't get Sauternes because the grapes have too much rot.

Or, God forbid, cheese with blue-green mold.

Or yogurt with live bacteria. Ewww!