I’d like to take a few minutes of your time to call to your attention a piece of legislation currently residing in the U.S. House of Representatives that could, if enacted in its current form, bring an abrupt end to organic and market-garden farming. HR 875, the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009 (FSMA), was introduced by Representative Rose DeLaura (D-CT) as a reaction to the unfortunate salmonella outbreak caused by substandard conditions at a peanut processing facility. On the surface, this legislation appears to be a positive step toward re-engineering a food safety system that is woefully inadequate. However, under close examination it becomes alarmingly clear that this legislation is not only flawed, but is obviously greatly influenced by lobbyists representing pesticide, herbicide, and factory farming interests (one should note that DeLaura’s husband, Stanley Greenberg, is a political consultant who has worked for leading companies in these industries in the past).
In a nutshell, this bill will create a new agency dubbed the Food Safety Administration (FSA) that would absorb several divisions of the FDA, the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, and the Center for Veterinary Medicine. The FSA would be charged with regulating food safety and labeling as well as preventing foodborne illnesses through regulation and inspection of all “food establishments”. As defined by the language of the bill, the term food establishment covers not only large industrial farms, agricultural warehouses, industrialized food processing facilities, but also encompasses any entity that produces food in any stage that is later consumed by the public. That means the local farmer who sells strictly at his local farm market, or the grandmother who sells her apricot preserves at her church craft fair. In fact, her church would be considered a food establishment under this legislation.
The bill is most specific in regards to the massive amount of policy regulation the FSA will impose on food establishments. All facilities will be required to register their premises and make all aspects of their operations open to unannounced visitation by federal inspectors. While this seems to make sense, particularly for the industrialized farmer or processing plant, the backyard gardener will be expected to grant federal agents complete access to his entire home as well as his vehicles, since food storage, transportation, and preparation facilities are unlikely to be wholly separate from his personal property. Additionally, Section 210 of the bill establishes a system of Traceback Requirements, which will require all farmers and food producers that sell their products directly to consumers to make their customer lists available to federal inspectors. If you’re not a farmer, but love purchasing your produce from a local roadside stand, your purchasing habits will be tracked much like they are now at the grocery chains.
Tasked to set “minimum standards related to fertilizer use, nutrients, hygiene, packaging, temperature controls, animal encroachment, and water”, you can bet the pesticide and herbicide giants will greatly influence what these yet-to-be-determined requirements will be. As intrusive and burdensome as the policy requirements are, these standards are sure to be the death of organic and sustainable farming. While such standards are not new, under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act they apply only to facilities engaged in interstate commerce. The FSMA contains no exceptions, meaning even entities engaged strictly in intrastate commerce fall under this umbrella, and bringing the Constitutionality of the legislation into question. Farmers failing to adhere to any of these regulations or meet the minimum standards (which will be nearly impossible for the family farmer to comply with) will result in heavy fines and, possibly, criminal prosecution.
If you value the quality, taste, and wholesomeness of food grown locally and organically, I urge you to contact your U.S. Representative and demand that they put a stop to this legislation. The bill currently sits in both the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and the House Committee on Agriculture, but may at any time be introduced on the floor for a vote. Your Representative will unlikely have read this bill, so it’s up to us to educate them as to what exactly this bill will destroy.
Text of the bill (read for yourself, don’t take my word for it)
List of co-sponsors (see if your Rep already has a hand in this)
