Given how heavily processed bologna is, I'm going to call bullshit on that.
A more likely reason is that domestic pork producers have a powerful lobby.
A more likely reason is that domestic pork producers have a powerful lobby.
However, bologna is not a vector for african swine fever or foot-and-mouth disease or (as far as I can tell) any other threat to US livestock.
Thus "bullshit". Re-read the thread.
Why would you say that instead of "bologna is not a vector for african swine fever or foot-and-mouth disease"? What does how heavily processed the bologna have to do with your point, and why did you bring it up if it has nothing to do with it? That's literally the only thing I argued against.
what does bologna being heavily processed have to do with "bullshit" though?
The article touched upon other illegal imports due to invasive species, such as wood products. I doubt that there is a wood carver's lobby that is trying to have the work of foreign craftsmen banned. They don't need such a lobby since once an alien species (or disease) gets a foothold it is near impossible to stop and very difficult to slow.
Import of plants into the US is completely unregulated, which is why fruit trees and interesting plants from all over the world are available in the US.
It's because inbound international mail isn't inspected, which isn't the case in most other countries.
Further, of course inbound international parcels are inspected [1]. As with any sort of border inspection, USPS and CBP rely on random samples and targeted efforts of limited scope.
[1]https://www.uspsoig.gov/document/prohibited-inbound-internat...
By comparison, I have to open every single package I import in front of a customs agent, and I live in a third world country. This is after they've been x-rayed by customs.
I mean, just recently Americans all over the country were receiving seeds in the mail from overseas and your govt had to issue warnings. Such warnings would be unnecessary in my country because every package is inspected.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/aug/03/mystery-seed...
Millions upon millions of packages arrive into your country every week from Aliexpress and other foreign online marketplaces. None of these are inspected.
As implemented currently, US import inspections are designed to maximize throughput while catching the most flagrant violators. Extremely easy-to-smuggle items in low risk categories like seeds are obviously more often than not going to make their way past enforcement checkpoints under this arrangement.
I can pretty much guarantee that nobody in this HN discussion has ever had a parcel opened, nor knows anyone who has ever had that happen to them.
I mean, there's an entire industry of buying prescription medicine online from India and other places, which simply wouldn't fly in any other country.