No on Question 3

Few folks really like to think about where the food they put on the table each day actually comes from — before it gets to those egg cartons or encased in plastic at the supermarket.

Question 3 on this November’s ballot makes us do just that — and that’s not such a bad thing. But the real questions are — is a change in the law necessary? And would that law be enforceable? And that’s where we part company with well intended organizations that are supporting the ballot measure.

The concept is relatively simple: No eggs, veal or pork could be sold in Massachusetts if they are produced by an animal that was “confined in a cruel manner.” The new law would define that as meaning “confined so as to prevent a covered animal from lying down, standing up, fully extending the animal’s limbs or turning around freely.”

In this nation that dotes on its companion animals, no one really likes to think of any animal — even those that are part of the food supply — suffering during its often short lifespan. The farming industry has actually been responding to that.

Cage-free eggs are on every supermarket shelf — usually for a premium — but readily available. Major chains like McDonald’s and Starbucks — and dozens of other outlets — have already committed to buying eggs from cage-free hens.

Veal producers went through a similar “crisis” several decades ago when the sight of calves living their lives in narrow pens caused a sharp drop in consumption — in fact, a virtual boycott — to which producers began responding nearly a decade ago. That industry has voluntarily agreed to phase out veal crates by 2017.

And, by the way, the proposed changed in Massachusetts law wouldn’t become effective until Jan. 1, 2022. So what is really going on here? Once again Massachusetts — where, let’s face it farming is not a major industry — has been chosen to blaze a trail advocates hope the rest of the nation will follow. Meanwhile the burden would be on local businesses to make sure the eggs, veal and pork they buy would be in compliance with the new law — a huge burden for small business indeed. And imagine the bureaucracy it would take to guarantee enforcement! Do the egg and pork and veal police have to visit every farm from here to Ohio?

For all its high-minded intentions Question 3 proposes an unworkable solution to a problem that is already on the way to being solved in the marketplace.