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Food Safety Bill Passes: 'Victory for Food Movement'
Food-Safety Rules Adopted by Congress
The most significant changes to food safety regulation in 70 years were approved by Congress on Tuesday, giving broad new powers to the Food and Drug Administration to step up inspections aimed at preventing outbreaks of disease in the nation's food production system.
The law also exempts small, local growers in California and elsewhere from the strictest of new regulations - an exception that recognizes higher risks of contamination among large food producers and the reality that frequent inspections would be too expensive for small farmers.
Approved on a 215-144 bipartisan House vote, the new regulations also include FDA-initiated recalls and for the first time hold imported food to the same standards as domestic food. The Senate approved the bill in its final version on Sunday. House approval sends the measure to President Obama for his signature.
"It's a victory for the food movement, which was able to draw a line between the specific risks of highly industrialized food production and the narrower but still real risks of producing food on a smaller scale," said Michael Pollan, a UC Berkeley journalism professor and best-selling author.
The bill gives vast authority to the FDA to inspect produce for bacterial contamination that could lead to salmonella or E. coli diseases in a wide array of products.
Peanuts, peppers, spinach, jalapenos and eggs have come under closer scrutiny as the FDA and food producers attempt to head off food-borne illnesses such as a salmonella outbreak last summer that led to the recall of half a billion eggs and sickened hundreds of people across 14 states. The Department of Agriculture continues to have authority over meat, poultry and some dairy products.
According to a study released last week by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 in 6 Americans gets sick each year from food-borne diseases and about 3,000 of those cases result in fatalities. The report found salmonella to be the leading cause of hospitalization and death among known food pathogens.
The new law gives the FDA the power to initiate food recalls and have access to company records at farms and production centers to help track outbreaks of food-borne illnesses. In addition, the FDA will set quality standards for imported produce, which makes up a higher portion of Americans' diets than ever before.
The bill is expected to cost $1.4 billion over the next four years, which includes hiring 2,000 FDA inspectors.
Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., added an amendment to the federal legislation that exempts producers with less than $500,000 in annual sales and who sell either within a state or within 275 miles of their location.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., added an amendment to the Senate version of the bill that would have banned bisphenol-A, the chemical used in cans and other food packaging that has been linked to health problems. The amendment was defeated.
Large agriculture groups were disappointed by passage of the bill, particularly the exemption for small farmers. But the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, a grassroots agriculture group, said it will create "scale-appropriate standards to promote food safety without undermining family farm production, natural resource conservation and local entrepreneurship."
Consumer groups also praised the bill.
"This win is a powerful testament to the people across the country who came to Washington to tell their lawmakers how contaminated food had killed their loved ones or left them horribly sick," said Jean Halloran, director of food policy initiatives at Consumers Union.
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52 Comments so far
Show All2,000 inspectors hired, but some of us can always find a nit to pick. Well then, my nit is that this is discriminatory. It only goes after the big producers. Why does the little guy get a break? The government could at least have made a half-ass attempt to check a few small farmers now and then. Oh well, I guess life is unfair.
Are you kidding?
This is the fake food safety bill. It did not even mention Factory Farms and their effluence. It did not mention CAFO. Read the bill.
There is nothing safe about this bill. This bill was designed to nail the little guy.
Congress sticks it to U.S. farmers with passage of food safety bill that will actually cause fresh produce to be more dangerous
Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/030808_food_safety_bill_American_farmers.html
Hasn't everyone figured out by now that whatever they name bills these days usually mean the exact opposite? READ THE BILL. Even the Tester amendment doesn't really protect small farmers from being wiped out by this BigAg written legislation, given where food inflation is headed. The bill requires onerous documentation, licensing and paperwork for farmers. Also, requirements such as a separate $500,000 seed cleaning machines for each crop grown. Ever see all the beautiful rolling hills in PA with all the perfectly groomed small Amish farms? Bye Bye. Did you see the film clips and stories of the FDA goons storming small farmers in WI and PA with their AKA-47s drawn? One farmer sold raw milk to community food co-ops, and the other was a cheese factory, which got their FDA letter (AFTER they ordered 1/2 million $$ of cheese destroyed) that they found NO bacteria in the cheese. The language in the bill still says if the FDA "BELIEVES" the food may be tainted they can shut down the farm. No legal recourse or day in court, just an FDA review board. This was nothing more than the Monsanto's and ADMs trying to shut off organic farming, farmers markets, and roadside stands, which grow in popularity by the minute! Big money shutting down the ever growing competition, just like BigPharma wants to shut down the vitamin industry. Why do you think they pulled every shady trick in the book to get it passed? If they really cared about our health, why did they not vote for the ammendment to eliminate Bisphenal A??? Factory farms, lax inspection by FDA, and the imported foods are the problem, NOT Amish type farms and ranches.
Good point "Miss Am." I am totally skeptical of this bill. Given the record of the corporation, it seems like most laws are written to protect their ass(ets) and to push the little guy out of production.
Miss American, your libertarian, idyllic views are a recipe for disaster. While most farmers are fine people, there are plenty more than willing to do the wrong thing for an extra dollar. With a layer of government regulation, there is at least a modicum of added safety. Also, I must say, your post doesn't totally make sense. This bill exempts small farmers. They do not need to buy one or more "$500,000 seed cleaning machines." Also, while I have not read the bill, I will state unequivocally that the bill does not say anyone has to spend a half million for a seed cleaning machine. We used to have a seed cleaning machine (fanning mill). I would guess that a new one like what we had would cost $1,000.
Greg, if you are concerned with small farmers, please elect to purchase your seed/lab food from Monsanto.com. With comments like this, I'll pay the shipping and handling.
He has admitted to being a GMO farmer in past discussions.
Hi, Kimberley. I do get most of my seed DIRECTLY from monsanto. They do not charge for shipping. (damn). As far as small farmers and government regulation are concerned, I happen to think government regulation is a good idea. Without regulation, somebody will always take advantage or cause trouble. I've dealt with a lot of regulation, and while often annoying, I'm still glad it's there. Today's Minneapolis Star Tribune has a story of the ongoing legal issues of a small dairy farmer who sells raw milk which has made people sick.
Mr Greg GMO,
There were accusations about raw milk making someone sick…but no proof.
Will Winter Rebuts Minneapolis Star Tribune Editorial Calling for Raw Milk Ban
By Dr. William Winter DVM
I am a person who has been a healthy and happy customer of Minnesota’s farm-fresh, organic and clean raw milk products for at least a decade, and, in addition, I grew up with it. As such, I’ve been mystified and stunned by the knee-jerk reactions and hostility expressed by the media. Especially since the writers of inflammatory articles such as this one, show no sign of being scientists themselves nor do they seem familiar with the production, distribution and actual safety record of raw milk. Allegations are suddenly “facts”, incomplete and inconclusive investigations are now “indictments”.
In the same week as the raw milk outrage, we have seen another similar example of harsh and simplistic judgments. Note the torrents of easy rage unleashed at the parents of the 16-year-old girl who attempted to sail solo around the world. Meanwhile, throughout her sail many of these same critical parents may have mindlessly bought their own children their daily supply of Skittles and Sugar Pops (somebody is buying them!). A third of the children in America are pathologically obese with Type II Diabetes raging in our midst. Why is there no screaming headline, “Reckless Parent Ignoring Sugar’s Danger!”
The recent staff editorial, “Recklessly ignoring raw milk’s danger”, came off as a critical scientific statement excoriating “internet idiots”, know-nothings who, like lost sheep, wander into the clutches of bad farmers who want to poison them. According to the editorial, these easily bamboozled fools clearly need the government to “protect them”. But yet there wasn’t a shred of scientific backbone to the article. Science begins with a literature review and there was no evidence of that. Robert S. Mendelsohn, MD wrote, “the opposite of ‘dirty’ milk is not ‘pasteurized’ or ‘homogenized’. The opposite of ‘dirty’ is ‘clean’.” We all want clean, wholesome, humane, sustainable food, be it milk, meat or lettuce.
I’ve been deeply involved with the production, distribution and legalization of clean, wholesome raw milk in the Twin Cities area. The typical raw dairy customer is vastly more knowledgeable than, say, the average supermarket shopper. They are, for the most part, well-read parents who duly note the well-documented facts regarding the declining safety and nutrient density of “conventional” food. We are realistic. We know there is no 100% safe food. We know that if every category of food that ever caused an occasional incidence of food poisoning were made illegal, there would be no hamburger, no lettuce, no eggs, no cheese, no hot dogs, no spinach. Virtually nothing to eat! We also know that improvements are always appreciated and necessary. We welcome those changes.
Raw milk is historical and global. It may come from cows, goats, sheep, donkeys, camels, llamas, horses, water buffalo, or yaks; but it’s almost always consumed raw or fermented. Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine, prescribed raw milk to cure TB. The Bible extols the virtues of wholesome nourishment as when God led the enslaved people out of Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, promising Moses a “land of flowing milk and honey”. Raw milk is still consumed all around the world in vastly greater amounts than pasteurized milk. It was never considered a potential pathogen-source in the United States until we had “factory” dairies that employed tubercular and sick immigrants who milked by hand. We never had an epic problem with pathogens in milk until East Coast dairy cattle were fed by-product feeds from whiskey by-product grain. These weakened animals produced dirty milk that was made slightly safer by heating it. Pasteurization was offered as a “band-aid” in order to continue the business of selling dirty milk. It’s gotten worse.
There is a mountain of rock-solid (non-industry funded) scientific study showing that wholesome raw milk IS actually a powerful health tonic and elixir! Books have been written about raw milk by medical doctors such as the founders of our very own Mayo Foundation, where medical care using the European “milk cure” was practiced. The terrible diseases of the day (TB, Brucellosis, and chronic degenerative disease) were routinely cured by inpatient treatment at the Mayo, using nothing but their own “certified” raw milk for cure. Staff physician J.E. Crewe ruefully wrote at the time, that after 15 years of seeing more cures with the milk cure than any other form of medicine that “the medical man is disinterested in this natural cure”. It was apparently “too simple to believe”. There is only one “perfect food” in the world, meaning a food that would sustain your life (in excellent health) alone, eating nothing else. That is raw milk. Pasteurized milk will not do that.
This is good for Vegetarians too, since everyone has to eat.
Wow. I guess its not just vegetables you'll eat if you're buying this BS.
I look to this as a means to eventually fast-track the broader applications of 'cold pasteurization'---i.e. food irradiation.
Stay tuned for further developments...
i have no reason to believe that the elites will do anything that benefits the people, financially or health-wise.
and i am not kidding.
You're right Steve. Section 104 puts all food under Homeland Security in an emergency, with rules to be written later, "in the interest of National Security". It gives me the chills, something like all those stacked and stored coffins. There's not an area left (including us) that is not going to be totally controlled by the GOV. Get a hint. And, with smaller farms wiped out it's going to be all GMOs all the time.
Greg...."a layer of regulation'? How about a ton of bricks?
That "layer of regulation" is about all we have to stave off greedy, evil, monopolies from totally taking over.
Greg R, I think you are on to something regarding monopolies. Truth be told, the United States actually has a number of anti-trust statutes on the books that should be applicable. Unfortunately, no administration for the last four decades, or so, has been willing to enforce those statutes. No one wants to derail the gravy train. Just consider what those cattle futures for Hils bought Don Tyson, allegedly---a case in point, possibly? Tyson/IBP now controls how much of the beef/poultry market?
Two different issues. The banks were regulated too, hahaha. Yea, sure. Insidiously, they have already taken over with 90% corn (GMO high fructose syrup in 99% of our food), 80% soy GMOs which are already flopping. Monsanto had to pay farmers to use a competitors pesticides this year since the Round-up isn't wortking anymore. Now our food is 90% pesticides. 'Super weeds' and God knows what else are the big reward for messing with mother nature. Here we are on Christmas day and the pure blue Arizona sky over our little desert town is scared with cris-crossed chemtrails. Nice present. Maybe for the pilots who are probably getting triple overtime for working today. I guess Monsanto will be looking to patent the air since this is a new 'element'.
"Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., added an amendment to the federal legislation that exempts producers with less than $500,000 in annual sales and who sell either within a state or within 275 miles of their location. "
Here's another dark secret move by Jon Tester.
Senator Tester Slips Bill Calling for Mandatory Logging of Public Lands into Omnibus Spending Bill
http://www.alternet.org/environment/149223
Jon Tester was an organic farmer and campaigned as a populist from what I recall in 2006. His support of the health insurance fraud, http://tester.senate.gov/healthcare.cfm, which mandates purchasing insurance is consistent with his support for mandating logging. He's no progressive populist.
Any guess that holding the imported food to the same standard as domestic will be challenged as a trade barrier at the WTO by some or all who export produce and meat to the USA?
Forget about having 'victory gardens'.....instead you should call them FU gardens (f*ck you! gardens)
When you can't afford food to buy, or the crap you can only purchase in stores is actually detrimental to your health then eventually nobody is going to heed any laws pro, con or otherwise that prevents them from eating.
And on a more positive note, here's a site that features news on "urban farming" which seems to be progressing at faster rates despite all the setbacks. :-)
http://www.cityfarmer.info/
----------
and another with positive info and actual resources for the needy:
http://www.dinnergarden.org/
"The Dinner Garden provides seeds, gardening supplies, and gardening advice free of charge to all people in the United States of America. We assist those in need in establishing food security for their families. Our goal is for people to plant home, neighborhood, and container gardens so they can use the vegetables they grow for food and income."
Well there may be problems with this bill, but it looks good to me based on the article. As for small producers, it's pretty obvious that they don't need to be held to the same standards as factory farms, because they can never do as much and as long term harm. New flu variants will come from factory farms, just like superweeds come from chemical agriculture. Safety standards for large scale production has to be really super strict. I'd be interested in more informed criticism of the bill because I'm too cynical to believe it's really as good as it sounds.
So? Will the corporate controlled FDA do anything about corporate poisoning of our food? Have they ever?
curiousteve and Atomsk, I'm with you, where's the rat buried? Since when has Congress and most especially THE SENATE stood up for the little people? It doesn't reassure me that this information came from The San Francisco Chronicle. It was just this morning that I read in the Corporate Ministry of Propaganda that the new FCC rules preserve net neutrality. Shades of 1984!
To those who are outraged about factory farms getting off, they are not under the purview of FDA, but USDA. This bill addresses FDA rules. Factory farms will be an entirely different fight.
When the people fear their government there is tyranny,
when the government fears the people there is liberty.
~ Thomas Jefferson
Good point on the regulatory overlap of FDA and USDA. I'd forgotten that. Thanks.
"According to a study released last week by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 in 6 Americans gets sick each year from food-borne diseases and about 3,000 of those cases result in fatalities. The report found salmonella to be the leading cause of hospitalization and death among known food pathogens."
So, about the same number of people as 911 die yearly, and no war is being waged on terrorist factory farms and their corporate allies? Why isn't the CEO of ADM in Gitmo, for example? It seems to me these CAFOs are a much bigger threat to the personal safety of US citizens; so, when do we send in the drones?
ADM doesn't operate CAFOs where I live. You'd be surprised who actually does.
However, there is a common denominator between the two.
A couple of months or so back, the Guardian ran this:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/05/chaco-paraguay-deforestation
ADM just happened to be the agricorp present in my mind at the moment. Yes, ADM only provides material support and its board members sit on the boards of actual CAFO operating corporations.
CAFO operating corporations? Did you read the linked article?
Give it a perusal.
Although this post of the CDC's estimate of food-borne illnesses is correct, you failed to mention the modes of transmission that make up this number. Restaurant/Food services account for a large number, and since the rise of illnesses directly relates to the rise in new restaurant operations since 1950, one needs to consider this fact. Other reasons are in-home cross-contamination, neighboring livestock farms who do not/can not dispose of the 16,338 gallons of manure PER ACRE that runs off into distant crops and mega producers thumbing their noses at current laws. I ask you this: if people continue to eat at restaurants, continue preparing their own food, and livestock continue to poop, how do you think this is going to change the safety of our food? It won't. It wasn't designed to. It was designed to eliminate the intermediate producers so that BigAg has less competition. While you make a compelling point about terroristic wrongs bestowed on the Americans, you need to do a bit of research and look into just WHO is harming us. Government and BigAg. (There's your cheat-sheet).
I am so sick of the negativity on this site. No matter how hard or diligently some of our "good" Congress people work, you folks will find something to turn it negative. Just remember: "You can fool SOME Of the people ALL of the time; you can fool ALL of the people SOME of the time; but you cannot fool ALL of the people ALL of the time." This bill passage is just a little bit of an improvement ~ and it actually sported "compromise." Imagine that!
it's like the radio, if you don't like it, change the station
here's a new word for you:
me-di-o-cre adj. 1. neither very good nor very bad; ordinary; average 2. not good enough; inferior
if it's your choice to settle for mediocrity, then that's fine. please don't expect to hold any of us down to the depths of your standards---some of us aspire for something better
peace to you
CHEERS!
It's not "mediocre" but "moderate." I believe in people working for good, not just shutting everyone else's opionion down. You have to "Keep on keeping on" or the bad guys win. Any gains, even in nature (i.e., evolution) are done over long periods of time in perseverance.
biological evolution has nothing to do with political evolution.
and people don't believe in the ohbummer style illusion of incremental political evolution. some never did. many don't any more.
people want a clean break. revolution. paradigmatic shift.
and it will not come from within. it can't.
You are apparently unfamiliar with Stephen Jay Gould's work on punctuated equilibrium. Evolution is marked by long periods of stagnation interrupted by relatively sudden, and often cataclysmic, events. That's the way of nature. Tepid moderation performs little service in the alteration of the status quo. Look to those on the political right, they are anything but moderate. Unless we are willing to oppose them with an equal or greater force, the trend will continue inexorably farther towards the right. Half-way measures are forms of surrender, not progress.
Harsh as we may sound, we can't afford to deny reality no matter how unpleasant it may sound. The bill that passed is an illusion of "improvement" and "compromise". Look at the bill closely and then tell us who's really gaining from this bill, small farmers or GMO farmers?
Really JZ? Compromise?! What are you smok.. eating????? This bill rode piggy back on the haunches of the economy bill! You aint lying about people being fooled... my God! It never ends!
"JZYLDY"- I respect your right to your pollyannish musing on this site, but there is also the saying, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me!"
Look at the track record of our government and the multinational corporate conglomerates. Please inform yourself, before you castigate people on this site as cynical complainers. Secondly, you can only claim "improvement" if you have evidence of the fact. Do you have any? Finally, all of the recent "compromises" I've seen thus far have literally amounted to giving away the family farm to the corporate flesh-eating zombies!
Compromise #1: DEC 12, 2010- Presdent Obama signs Tax bill granting 25% of total tax savings to top 1% of American population.
Compromise #2: Dec 21, 2010- Presidential appointee of FCC approves of new rules allowing AT&T, Verizon and Comcast the right to determine internet content and internet speed on broadband and wireless.
Please point out to me how this in anyway benefits the American people. With all due respect, I honestly would like to hear your point of view. Thank you.
Canada needs to do exactly this. Imported foods should/must comply to the same standards as Canadian farmers must implement.
An example, beef from the USA has growth hormones whereas GH are not allowed in Canadian beef. The imported US milk also has GH which is even worst. The hormones go directly to the milk in concentrated form then to children and families.
Insecticides that are banned in Canada may be used in Mexico, Guatemala and other Middle and South America.
Canada follows the USA in so many ways.... lets hope for once the food safety bill would be one we should copy.
I agree with this. Now this is a positive effort to work toward. We must not allow our children to be poisoned. Their little systems are revolting with what has already been done in the way of preservatives, food colorings, toy paint.
Are you happy that the FDA which approves GMO Salmon will be in charge of this? Anything Congress passes now is poison. Nothing will get past the corporate lobbyists. I wish they would just stop meeting. Not looking forward to how this plays out. How long will you Duptocrats continue to think these people work in our interest?
I certainly understand the desire to see this bill as a big step forward - indeed, to find anything positive in what our government is doing - and the bill is certainly better than it could have been, and better than nothing.
At the same time, after years of watching federal government regulators' oversight of the oil industry, Wall Street banks, or just about any other major industry, it does strain credibility to assume they will do any better overseeing Big Ag.
I'm glad the bill passed, but the ultimate answer is still for us to rebuild the food system from the ground up, meaning going as local as possible and involving as many people as possible in growing our own - i.e., take the food system out of the hands of the corporations. And remember, even if gov. regulation actually does makes the industrial food system safer, it won't make that food any healthier, any more nutritious, or any less disastrous for our land, water and air. Once again, the best answer is for us to take over the food system ourselves.
I'm glad to see so many see through the fake "food safety" nonsense.
Michael Pollan, who had the skill to point out the obvious to those who would not see, does not appear to understand that. His solutions always seem to involve the gov't doing things, rather than stopping doing things. Stopping things like ag subsidies and indiscriminate use of antibiotics in animals, for instance.
What a shame. I don't know who I'm more disgusted with: the American sheeple or CommonDreams.org for even posting this in a manner that gives perception that this bill in any way is a benefit to the American people. Is it not blantently obvious this bill was designed by BigAg to destroy the intermediate farmers? How many farmers make more than $500k but less than $5.1 BILLION??? Has anyone even READ the bill?? You know,.. I've all but given up on this corruption and you people who can't see fit to make decision on what to buy/wear/eat/crap/etc on your own free will. You deserve what you get. And while you wait in lines for the government to feed/house/direct you.. I will be protecting my family. Prepare for slaughter, while my family feasts heavily on MY OWN SEED. Idiots....
i wouldn't have any problem with a government housing /feeding people properly.
i have a big problem with the current government NOT housing and feeding people properly.
Kimberly,
I agree with you.
All these people are doing back flips because they read an article in the SF Chronicle full of half truths. Oh how great the FDA and USDA will be now there is a new law.
It's not even ...How many farmers make more than $500k but less than $5.1 BILLION???
It's how much they sell. They could sell $550,000 worth, and earn $5,000 and still have to comply with all this bullshit...
Grow your own food, and save seeds.
These same giant corporations that wrote this bill and pushed it through without discussion have bought up all the seed companies.
Check out this page...https://www.msu.edu/~howardp/seedindustry.html especially the animation.
Prepare for the worst.
Cool. But let's hope it doesn't turn out to be the scenario of the fox guarding the chicken coop. You'll be amazed of the money-power of agro-business. Look at how AT&T just recently influenced the FCC. Just because they have more regulators, doesn't mean they'll do what's good for American citizens. We've taken a beating by corporations. There is no reason to think that we won anything yet.
It's a crying shame. All those POOR little farmers with more than a $half million in sales. I guess I'm one of those truly pathetic teeny-tiny farmers who doesn't make the $half million cut-off. I'm too ridiculously poor for anyone to even pay attention to my itsy-bitsy voice in the wilderness. Don't even think of paying attention...
So Greg R, how is it that you are missing out on the direct payment subsidy gravy train?
From what I can gather about your operation from previous posts, you are in no less of a position to reap the rewards as the local farmer around me---so, what's the deal?
My tiny rural congressional district alone, pulled in over a billion dollars over the last ten years in just direct payments---to say nothing about moneys buried in various other forms of ag-welfare.
You really expect me to believe you aren't cashing in?
In past decades, when I farmed much more land, I received quite a lot of government money from several different programs involving storing grain and subsidies when prices were low. Now, with prices higher, there are very few subsidies coming directly to farmers. The main one is payment to anyone owning land that has a crop history of growing major feed grains. I think the payment is in the area of $25/acre. non placet, perhaps I'm wrong, but I think it was you who pointed me to some research showing a potential for lower yields from glyphosate application. Anyway, I have decided to reduce my use of glyphosate. Some used to say pour on the Roundup at high enough levels to increase the chances of killing all weeds and reducing the chance of survivors gaining resistance. I think that is bad advice.