S.510 Could Kill the Real Food Movement
The U.S. Senate has been working on S.510, the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, and they hope to have it on President Obama’s desk by Easter. The Act tries to address the worst problems in U.S. agriculture, but as it stands, the bill threatens to undermine the best things in U.S. agriculture—small farmers producing for local markets.
S.510 is a well-meaning attempt to address the genuine problems of contamination from food-borne pathogens and complications in prevention and intervention caused by large, industrialized food distribution systems. All of the well-publicized incidents of contamination in recent years—spinach, peppers, peanuts, hamburger—occurred in industrialized food supply chains that span national—and even international—boundaries.
An exciting development in agriculture and rural economies in recent years is the growing desire and enthusiasm of consumers for buying food direct from farmers and producers, and with that, new businesses and new farmers are entering agriculture. S.510 will effectively kill this positive trend.
Industrial Hog Operation
Instead of effectively protecting us from the filthy conditions inherent in factory farming, the “one-size-fits-all” regulatory policy in S.510 would undermine the rapidly growing local foods movement by imposing unnecessary, burdensome regulations on small farms and food processors—everyone from your local CSA, to the small bakers, jam makers, and people making fermented vegetables to sell at the local farmers market.
The Act casts a shadow over farms that even minimally process their crops and sell them to individuals, restaurants, food coops, groceries, schools or to wholesale markets. Many farmers unable to bear the costs of compliance will be shut out of these important new markets.
The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) is focusing on four main problems:
- Farm facilities which do value-added processing or which co-mingle product with neighboring farms will be subject to a proposed new, extensive and expensive FDA regulatory regime, regardless of risk and regardless of scale.
- Proposed new requirements for crop traceability beyond the farm gate and related record-keeping requirements will make it difficult or impossible for farmers to comply. This also lays the groundwork for passage of the very controversial National Animal Identification System (NAIS).
- A produce standard provision threatens wildlife and biodiversity, and is antithetical to organic and agroecological farming practices. These regulations would be particularly problematic for practitioners of traditional farms that combine the synergies of grass, livestock and crops to minimize chemical inputs and maximize building soils and recycling nutrients.
- Lack of training or technical assistance on food safety appropriate for small and mid-sized value added producers and small scale processors and wholesalers exacerbates the challenges these operations will face to comply with new regulation. It would take a desk-bound administrative staff working full-time just to keep up with the bare minimum requirements of this bill. Small farmers are operating on a very thin edge as it is, and this bill will force many of them to throw in the towel.
By failing to focus FDA regulation on processing activities that present the most risk for food borne pathogen contamination, this bill could needlessly throttle an increasingly important engine for rural economic development and rural revitalization. In its zeal to protect consumer health, Congress could instead stifle a healthy shift in diet to more fresh and local foods.
Longstanding state and local health and sanitation laws are in place, and they continue to provide oversight for the small processors and local farmers market vendors. The emergence of deadly pathogens that are difficult to trace are a function of a long and complex industrial food chain, which should be the focus of this legislation—not small, local food.
Food safety is something we all care about. It is not compromised by the growing trend toward healthy, fresh, locally-sourced vegetables, meats, fruits, and small processing companies that is reinvigorating local food systems.
Local foods businesses are not the same as animal factories or mega-farms that sell products into industrial scale national and international markets. Local food systems are inherently safer and traceable.
What You Can Do
The FDA Federal Food Safety Modernization Act tries to fix a problem at one end of the agricultural spectrum, but it will create a host of problems at the other end. Clean, simple language should be added to remove the small, local direct-market farms and processors whose primary sales are direct to consumers, hotels, restaurants and institutions.
Contact your Senators today and ask them to vote for amendments to fix the FDA Federal Food Safety Modernization Act (S.510) so it does not take away one of the bright emerging spots in wholesome, healthy food and local jobs and income.
Ask your Senators to:
- exempt small farmers selling directly to consumers, and
- exempt small-scale processors.
You can also sign this petition.
Your favorite small farmer is counting on you!
Image credit: Farm Sanctuary
This post is participating in Fight Back Fridays hosted by Food Renegade!
[...] that Richardson considers a hopeful site of action in the contemporary political climate is the Food Safety Modernization Act (S. 510). This act is designed to address the increasingly frequent outbreaks of food [...]
“Could” kill? Try “will kill”.
Congressional leadership is trying to conform our food & ag laws to a magical international “standard” for which none of us has voted; see The Complete Patient blog’s yesterday post for a very clear explanation of the regulatory compliance they are trying to force on us. That’s why the senators don’t care what we want them to do. They are doing to us what they know is good for American agribusiness as Big Ag positions themselves for exports. The bonus is they run the small diversified farmer out of business via regulatory hell. Win win for Cargill, Monsanto, Tyson, et al.
This sounds eerily similar to regulations that have come into force in Canada (provincial and federal) that are having exactly the effect feared in this article.
Small farmers are having a tough time with new on-farm safety programs that, although not compulsory as yet, definitely put them at a disadvantage if they don’t try to implement them. Producer groups are scrambling to come up with programs and train their producers and some government funding is avialable to help with training.
Everyone agrees that consumers need to be reassured about the safety of their food, but it is the largest food processors that are casuing the problems, and small farms and food facilities that are paying the price for their negligence.
It will be interesting to follow the progress of this bill south of the border.
.-= Angela Lovell´s last blog ..War is not a video game. =-.
I sincerely hope that American’s love their small farmers, farmer’s markets, CSAs, and other farm to table businesses enough to let their senators know that this law must be amended to protect them. Hopefully a groundswell will rise, as it did against the USDA for watering down organic standards many years ago.
Best,
Dawn
[...] strict regulations. Criticized as a one-size fits all approach for food processors, it remains menacing for small farms where record keeping, testing and other measures may be difficult to comply with. Should small [...]
[...] Mindful Eats (Is Soy/Tofu Good or Bad for You?)2. Caveman Sam3. Dawn @ Farm to Table – S.510 Could Kill the Real Food Movement4. Small Footprint Mama5. frugalcrunchychristy(super easy dinner rolls)6. Kitchen Stewardship [...]
If this bill passes unamended, I suggest some civil disobedience. It’s either: a) well-meaning law (though terribly written) or b) a law specifically designed to put local farmers out of business so that we all have to eat factory meat and Monsanto veggies. But if enough of us stand up, it will have to be rewritten. (For the record, I’m not a farmer or a food producer, just a die-hard fan of locally-raised food. The FDA will have to pry my CSA share from my cold, dead hands
)
It’s the time for change. This is our generation’s battle, so let’s see if we have what it takes to change our society, as we did in the 60s and 70s.
The people behind this wing of the anti-S. 510 campaign are playing on our sympathies for small farms. In reality they are trying to garner our support for big businesses. If you read their amendments and proposals you will see that they are making an effort to exempt farms that generate a gross-adjusted income well beyond a typical small farm. When this bill does pass, be aware during the ensuing comment period. Big Ag is going to try to get out of being regulated by making the definition of “small farm” include them.
The only people coming after your CSA and farmers’ market are the engineers of this viral campaign.
Mike´s last [type] ..What Is A Small Farm
We love our farmers markets it is the best thing that has ever happened to our city! We love that our restaraunts most of them use organic food grown from their locally owned farms and some even own their own farms! How cool is that? We were voted the coolest city and we are open, organic and progressive . I think so many people are becoming disillusioned with instituions… first the church, then Enron, then many of the finanacial institutions that have become mega rich through greed and corruption we just keep watching..it is like a movie that the corruption and motives begins to take twist and turns, but we happen to be in the movie that is the most mind blowing part. We must work together towards progress I recall someone in office long time ago that always discussed becoming self sustaining through health, organic farming, no GMO, counseling and education for all you need it, jobs not outsourcing and he wanted to to create fianacial freedom for us as people not high interests on mortgage so that everyoe could should be encouraged in thinking of pursuing higher education for higher fulfillment ( the chinese sure are) I believe this man was not so popular then, perhaps way ahead of his time I think he was right. In terms of higher quality of life, and health.
All I have to ask is who will be the first one to complain when there is another food outbreak, it will be the people who are opposing this act. America needs change. We need to shine light on the many farmers who are selling food to local consumers under unsanitary conditions. It will be the people, who who are opposing this act, to be the first to ask where was our government to prevent this. HELLO they have been here all the time while you were complaining about the act. People need to open there eyes and start seeing what the United States really is, people who take short cuts to get ahead in life. We need farmers who take the time to work in sanitary conditions and they need someone to tell them.