Page 6 - ARUBA TODAY

A6 U.S. NEWS
Monday 20 March 2017

American Living:

Ban on Irish butter sparks fight in butter-loving Wisconsin

ment help needed, they and doesn’t protect con-
say. sumers. The real issue, the
On the books since 1953, group argues, is personal
the law is strict: It requires freedom.
butters to be rated on vari- Institute attorney Jake Cur-
ous measures — including tis acknowledged it’s a
flavor, body and color — light-hearted case, “but
by the federal government economic liberty is a civil
or people licensed as but- right.”Department spokes-
ter and cheese graders man Bill Cosh released a
with the Wisconsin Depart- statement saying his con-
ment of Agriculture, Trade sumer-protection agency
and Consumer Protection. has to uphold state law, but
Wisconsin’s grading scale noted that enforcement
dictates that the highest- “has been limited to notify-
graded butter must “pos- ing retailers of what the law
sess a fine and highly pleas- says.”Ornua, the company
ing butter flavor.” Graders that markets Kerrygold, isn’t
might describe a butter part of the lawsuit and de-
as “crumbly,” ‘’gummy” clined to comment on the
or “sticky,” and its color as case. The Wisconsin Dairy
“mottled,” ‘’streaked” or Products Association didn’t
A supply of Kerrygold Pure Irish Butter sits amidst other butters on a store shelf Friday, March 17, “speckled.” immediately return a mes-
2017 in Edina, Minn. Wisconsin consumers tired of trekking across state lines to buy a popular Irish Anybody convicted of sell- sage seeking comment.
butter are taking their fight to court. A 1953 state law bans the sale of Kerrygold butter in Wisconsin, ing unlabeled or ungraded Curtis said he’s also heard
along with any other butter that hasn’t been locally graded for quality. A handful of butter aficio- butter is subject to a fine from residents frustrated
nados filed the lawsuit, saying it’s unconstitutional to require butter sold in the state to undergo a between $100 and $1,000 they can’t buy their fa-
government-mandated taste test. and six months in jail. vorite Danish and Icelan-
(AP Photo/Jim Mone) Wisconsin is the only state dic varieties near home.
CARA LOMBARDO other butter that hasn’t state lines to stock up, she in the nation with such a Smith said Kerrygold butter,
Associated Press been graded for quality. and a handful of other Wis- stringent butter provision, which uses milk from grass-
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wis- “We bring back 20 bricks or consin butter aficionados which the lawsuit argues fed and hormone-free
consin resident Jean Smith so,” Smith said, noting she filed a lawsuit this week amounts to an unconstitu- cows, occasionally shows
snatches up entire stocks of plops a tablespoon of the challenging the law, say- tional “government-man- up in stores near her home
her beloved Kerrygold Irish Ireland-made butter into ing local consumers and dated ‘taste test.’” The in Waukesha, but its avail-
butter from stores when her tea each morning. “It’s businesses “are more than Wisconsin Institute for Law ability is unpredictable.
visiting family in Nebraska, creamier, it doesn’t have capable of determining and Liberty, a conservative “If I couldn’t get Kerry-
thanks to an antiquated any waxy taste and it’s a whether butter is sufficiently legal group representing gold, I would use the other
law in her dairy-obsessed richer yellow.” creamy, properly salted, or the plaintiffs, said the grad- butter,” Smith said. “It just
state that bans it and any Tired of trekking across too crumbly.” No govern- ing process is subjective doesn’t taste as good.”q
Lobster-crazy China sets record for US crustacean imports

PATRICK WHITTLE million. Last year, China im- cord. The previous high was the growth of the country’s cheapest things in the live
Associated Press ported more than $108 mil- about 13.1 million pounds middle class, said Stepha- tanks.”The uptick came in
ROCKPORT, Maine (AP) — lion in lobsters from Ameri- the previous year. nie Nadeau, owner of The a record year for lobster
The expanding market for ca, surpassing the previous Interest in American lobster Lobster Company, in Arun- catch in Maine, where
lobsters in China is continu- high of about $90.2 million has grown in other coun- del, Maine, which is a key most of America’s lobster
ing to grow, with the coun- in 2014.“We’ve opened tries in Asia as well, such as player in the export busi- catch comes ashore. Fish-
try setting a new record for new markets in Asia, which South Korea, which grew ness. American lobsters ermen caught more than
the value of its imports of is booming,” said Dave from less than $5 million in tend to be less expensive in 130 million pounds of lob-
the crustaceans from the Cousens, president of the 2010 to nearly $28 million China than other live sea- ster in Maine last year, an
United States. Maine Lobstermen’s Asso- last year. Vietnam’s imports food, such as spiny lobsters all-time record and more
American lobster was al- ciation. “Everything is click- grew from $142,940 to more and geoduck clams, she than double the 2007 total.
most unheard of in most ing now.”Chinese importers than $31 million in that time. said.“It’s kind of an afford- Atlantic Canada also has
of China until 2010, when took in more than 14 million One of the factors spur- able luxury,” Nadeau said. a large lobster fishery and
the value of imports grew pounds of U.S. lobsters last ring the growth of lobsters “One of my customers said sends the same species of
250 percent to about $7.4 year, which was also a re- in China appears to be our lobsters are one of the lobster to China.q