HR875/S425 Food Safety Bills (warning: long post)

[greenbird]

There's been some discussion on various DU threads regarding this bill, along with S425:

Some interesting things I've found while looking into it:

Organic Consumers Association's statement on the bill:

Internet Myth of the Week:
Congress To Pass Bill That Will Outlaw Organic Farming?
This week, we received numerous calls and emails from OCA supporters who came across alarming YouTube videos and emails circulating on the internet that claimed a new food safety bill (HR 875) introduced in Congress would make "organic farming illegal." Although the Bill certainly has its shortcomings, it is an exaggeration to say that is a secret plot by Monsanto and the USDA to destroy the nation's alternative food and farming system. In actuality, HR 875, the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009, is a limited-vision attempt by moderate Democrats and Republicans to craft food safety legislation to address the out-of-control filth and contamination that are inherent in our industrialized, now globalized, "profit-at-any-cost" food system.
This being said, OCA does not support HR 875 in its present form, given the fact that, if the Bill's regulations were applied in a one-size-fits-all manner to certified organic and farm-to-consumer operations, it could have a devastating impact on small farmers, especially raw milk producers who are already unfairly targeted by state food-safety regulators. Although the OCA deems this Bill as somewhat well-intentioned, we are calling on Congress to focus its attention on the real threats to food safety: globalized food sourcing from nations such as China where food safety is a joke and domestic industrial-scale and factory farms whose collateral damage includes pesticide and antibiotic-tainted food, mad cow disease, E.coli contamination and salmonella poisoning. And, of course, Congress and the Obama Administration need to support a massive transition to organic farming practices.

link: www.organicconsumers.org


and

Food & Water Watch’ s Statement on H.R. 875 and the Food Safety Bills
The dilemma of how to regulate food safety in a way that prevents problems caused by industrialized agriculture but doesn’t wipe out small diversified farms is not new and is not easily solved. And as almost constant food safety problems reveal the dirty truth about the way much of our food is produced, processed and distributed, it’s a dilemma we need to have serious discussion about.

Most consumers never thought they had to worry about peanut butter and this latest food safety scandal has captured public attention for good reason – a CEO who knowingly shipped contaminated food, a plant with holes in the roof and serious pest problems, and years of state and federal regulators failing to intervene.

It’s no surprise that Congress is under pressure to act and multiple food safety bills have been introduced.

Two of the bills are about traceability for food (S.425 and H.R. 814). These present real issues for small producers who could be forced to bear the cost of expensive tracking technology and recordkeeping.

The other bills address what FDA can do to regulate food.


A lot of attention has been focused on a bill introduced by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (H.R. 875), the Food Safety Modernization Act. And a lot of what is being said about the bill is misleading.

Here are a few things that H.R. 875 DOES do:

-It addresses the most critical flaw in the structure of FDA by splitting it into 2 new agencies –one devoted to food safety and the other devoted to drugs and medical devices.

-It increases inspection of food processing plants, basing the frequency of inspection on the risk of the product being produced – but it does NOT make plants pay any registration fees or user fees.

-It does extend food safety agency authority to food production on farms, requiring farms to write a food safety plan and consider the critical points on that farm where food safety problems are likely to occur.

-It requires imported food to meet the same standards as food produced in the U.S.

And just as importantly, here are a few things that H.R. 875 does NOT do:

-It does not cover foods regulated by the USDA (beef, pork, poultry, lamb, catfish.)

-It does not establish a mandatory animal identification system.

-It does not regulate backyard gardens.

-It does not regulate seed.

-It does not call for new regulations for farmers markets or direct marketing arrangements.

-It does not apply to food that does not enter interstate commerce (food that is sold across state lines).

-It does not mandate any specific type of traceability for FDA-regulated foods (the bill does instruct a new food safety agency to improve traceability of foods, but specifically says that recordkeeping can be done electronically or on paper.)


Several of the things not found in the DeLauro can be found in other bills – like H.R. 814, the Tracing and Recalling Agricultural Contamination Everywhere Act, which calls for a mandatory animal identification system, or H.R. 759, the Food And Drug Administration Globalization Act, which overhauls the entire structure of FDA. H.R. 759 is more likely to move through Congress than H.R. 875. And H.R. 759 contains several provisions that could cause problems for small farms and food processors:

-It extends traceability recordkeeping requirements that currently apply only to food processors to farms and restaurants – and requires that recordkeeping be done electronically.

-It calls for standard lot numbers to be used in food production.

-It requires food processing plants to pay a registration fee to FDA to fund the agency’s inspection efforts.

-It instructs FDA to establish production standards for fruits and vegetables and to establish Good Agricultural Practices for produce.

There is plenty of evidence that one-size-fits-all regulation only tends to work for one size of agriculture – the largest industrialized operations. That’s why it is important to let members of Congress know how food safety proposals will impact the conservation, organic, and sustainable practices that make diversified, organic, and direct market producers different from agribusiness. And the work doesn’t stop there – if Congress passes any of these bills, the FDA will have to develop rules and regulations to implement the law, a process that we can’t afford to ignore.

But simply shooting down any attempt to fix our broken food safety system is not an approach that works for consumers, who are faced with a food supply that is putting them at risk and regulators who lack the authority to do much about it.

You can read the full text of any of these bills at http://thomas.loc.gov

___________________________
Sarah Alexander
Senior Food Organizer
Food & Water Watch

1616 P St. NW Suite 300
Washington, DC 20036
[e-mail]
www.foodandwaterwatch.org

_______________________________________________________________________

As an organic farmer, I'm as anti-Monsanto and agribusiness as the next old hippie, but I think we need to be careful about where we're placing our outrage, so that it actually does some good. Interesting stuff!

[newfie11]

1. Thanks for making sense of this, n/t

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. Thank you and I am hoping this gets many recs....

[Grinchie]

3. I don't see anything a small farmer needs to fear in Bill H.R. 875

After reading the entire Bill, which is written in very clear and simple language, I see nothing that add a greater burden to any business that produces food for retail consumption, unless you're a big producers that gets the ingredient shipped to them in tanker trucks, or by the boxcar load. Or manufactures food using chemicals bought in bulk from overseas chemical producers that still use old process that yields impurt product in order to shave a few pennies of cost.

The individual farmer, and especially the Organic farmer, has to follow a pretty rigorous record keeping regime already, and even a 2 person operation can deal with the requiremnets that occasionally the Government would want to review the records of where I shipped my product. It's called an invoice, and the people that are making these wild claims about how bad the bill is are most like paid schills from big ag, or they are certifiably insane, not that the two are mutually exclusive.

However, it seems that their campaign was the first into the YouTubes and tens of thousands have already viewed the scare mongering video report that has multiplied incredibly fast, so it's important that people read the bill and understand that all the claims made by the opposition are blatantly false.

This is the first step to getting accountability from all the Peanut Corporations of America, don't let it slip by due to a marketing campaign that focuses on peoples laziness and stupidity by telling them what to think.

[greenbird]

4. Thanks Grinchie

Your posts were actually what got me thinking that this whole campaign might be a slick trick.

[Grinchie]

5. The fact is that they have used this Oppostion strategy before.

I believe it was for the mandataory labeling of GMO food in Oregon. The GMO industry hired an actor that looked suprisingly similar to the author of the ballot initiative, and spent millions cobbling together a bunch of good ole farmer families to expound on how labeling the GMO ingedients that are everywhere in our food chain would hurt the farmer.

It won because the public was too complacent and ignorant of the dangers of GMO, and the bill went on to defeat.

This campaign is even more insidious, and I want to see the perpetrators of this well crafted campaig exposed for who they are, and what connection they have to Big-Ag interests that this bill will affect.

For example, I raise chickens for eggs and meat, because they are a vital component of the conversion process, insect control and composting. Their is nothing more satisfying that watching a flock of chickens turn over a compost pile and eating the bugs. They work for me and have a good time being chickens.

However, some people would like to raise a few hens for Eggs, so they have to buy feed for them. Imagine my shock when I went shopping for a few chicks for my mom to get her some fresh egg producers. The name brand Purina lay mash was full of dubious ingrediants, most likely of GMO sourced grains. It was $18.00 for a 50# bag. Very expensive.

When I asked for organic feed, the cost for simple cracked corn was double at $36 dollars. It was a shock. There would be no way that my mom, on a fixed income, could afford to keep a bunch of laying hens without running a deficit. Sure, she would have the services of the chickens, but economically she would not be able to afford it.

H.R. 875 applies to animal feed as well, so we would have meaningful recourse to trace back unhealthy animals to Adulterated feed, and in this case, a tiny chick eating roundup ready or BT Corn varieties. These big producers are inhuman when it comes to raising animals for the mass market, and people are so far removed from the food source that they don't care. They are too busy paying the mortgage, paying the insurance, utilities, medical, water, fuel, Cable tv, Phone and other bills that they eat what tastes good. Unfortunately, that food has been loaded with chemicals and additives that change a taseless melange of ingrediants that has had most nutrition beaten out of it into something that fools our tastebuds. Our stomach is the one that deals with it, and it tells us how much it dislikes what's going in by signaling us with Acid reflux, Irritable Bowl, or Obesity.

H.R. 875 is absolutely going to affect the Big-Ag interests, but we have seen that they have gone too far and have killed the golden goose of unregulated food manufacture, and now deserve the regulation. Again, one has to look at who benefits if Bill H.R. 875 fails. It is Big-Ag that woul benefit, because they would not be held accountable. Organic farmers would barely benifit, if at all, because we already do what is outlined in the bill. Follow the money on this one, it will lead to a scary place of Food Refineries, and industrialized food production facilities, and all the greedy corporate fatcats that it is composed of.

As an Organic farmer, I was subjected to onerous piles of regulations to get started. This is the Governments way of barring entry into a small business by requiring a license or some other seal of approval. It is a sleight of hand to restrict entry into fields that are easily accomplished by almost anyone.

Organic farming is one of the most rewarding careers I have ever had. I take it seriously and treat it like a business. That means you follow the rules, keep great records and know the law. I use no other inputs on the farm other than what grows on it. I am very tree oriented, so I undercrop extensively. This way, the tree's fertilize my crops, and when they get too big, I use it for timber and plant a new one. The chickens are free range and forage for themselves. I allocate 15 birds per hectare. Yes, they eat that much. Higher than that I would need to feed them. My chickens will eat mice, frogs, centipedes and slugs. My animals are partners, and I work hard to make their short lives as enjoyable as possible. They reciprocate in many ways.

The Opponents of H.R. 875 are not real farmers, nor do I think they ever grew a tomato, or know how long a chicken is supposed to live. I don't believe that they can read either, so I have to assume that they are on the payroll of Big-ag.

[sunwyn]

6. I am a real farmer and I have a problem with a bill that is so vague

[create.peace]

7. rural kansan here with same problem

i see this as a foot in the door bill

[bvar22]

10. Hi Grinchie.

I love your posts, but disagree with you as to the potential for trouble from this legislation.
I believe you live in Hawaii, and will not be subject to the problems those of us who live on the continent will have. (If I'm wrong about your location, please correct me.)

I live in Arkansas, just a few miles from the Oklahoma State Line.
If I share/sell/barter my free range eggs, honey, and garden produce with neighbors who live on the other side of the state line, will I become a criminal?

I do agree on some points.
We no longer trust the Farmers Markets.
We have discovered that some vendors at the Farmers Markets will use MORE pesticides, herbicides, and questionable fertilizers than commercial operations....and then swear their stuff is "Organic". Even knowing this, I am resistant to imposing another layer of govermental regulation.
The only way to know for sure is to grow your own, or really know the grower.


BTW: We LOVE to watch our birds work over the compost, and they LOVE doing it, but they sure make a mess.
We let our chickens Free Range, but supplement their diet during Winter with Corn Crumbles.
Now I'm worried about the content of that feed.
Do you supplement you feed during Winter?
(Do you even have Winter?)

[ed_mcc]

8. Unintended consequences?

One item of concern (well, two that are related):

- It does not regulate backyard gardens.
- It does not apply to food that does not enter interstate commerce (food that is sold across state lines).


Just because it doesn't ~specifically~ mention these doesn't mean that they are exempt.

In WICKARD v. FILBURN, 317 U.S. 111 (1942), SCOTUS upheld the government position that if an activity has even an indirect effect on interstate commerce that Federal rules could be applied to a completely private growing operation. The government claimed - and get this - if the farmer hadn't been growing his own grain, he would have had to buy it in interstate commerce, so his consumption of home-grown grain had a regulatable effect on interstate commerce.

We do need to be careful that the "fixes" aren't so broad that they result in Federal micromanagement of
our individual lives.

E_McC

[hippywife]

9. I, too, am concerned about the vagueness

of this bill, or what I've seen of it. I can't claim to have read everything contained in it. So I am doing the only thing I can do. I went to the website and sent this email.

www.whitehouse.gov

I was so very encouraged to see the First Lady and Sam Kass planting a lovely vegetable garden with the children on the south lawn. It gave me hope for what it exemplified.

Now I'm hearing so much about H.B. 875 that would make it more difficult for small farms to exist and people to raise their own food under the cover of "Food Safety."

Honestly, I do not know all the ins and outs of this bill, but if it truly ends up giving corporations like Monsanto the upper hand and making it illegal for people to stock their own seeds, then something truly and intrinsically American will have been lost. And once again, we will lose liberties to the factions that sell us legislation of fear. We've already lost so much to the terrorists because we let them scare us into giving up who we are, what we do and how we do it.

I am begging you to please not let this happen. I know there is so much needing your attention but the right of Americans to feed themselves and to earn a living from their small farms is something we cannot lose. How will people in this economy feed themselves, their families and their neighbors? I think allowing small farms to provide safe, clean, local food to their areas is definitely one way to help the economy stay on it's feet as you work to bring it back to life.

My doctor was amazed at the changes in my own health when I began eating locally and naturally raised whole foods from the small farmers that sell their product in our coop. The numbers on my blood tests for cholesterol and my diabetes indicators took a very steep drop! He told me he had never seen anyone improve their numbers so significantly in such a short time. I wish this type of opportunity for improvement for all Americans.

I so appreciate you and Mrs. Obama. We are so proud of the both of you and what you represent (a long needed breath of fresh air!) at nearly every turn. I am placing all my hopes, and those of the local food providers in this country, in your hands. The health of our nation is so dependent on this kind of legislation, and others such as the NAIS, being vetoed.

Thank you so kindly for listening to the American people, for it is truly apparent that you do. The garden was proof of that.

Cordially,
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Citizen of rural OK