Many people eat salmon for the omega 3 content, which will be in much smaller amounts if farmed and fed corn! You might as well have corn. I wish they would study the omega 3 content of grain raised animals.

FWW is very interesting, focusing attention on this issue but being silent about S 510 which would mean the genetic engineering of all food.

They send out petitions against rBGH but say nothing about the Monsanto executive and lawyer who gave rBGH to us and kept it unlabeled and who is head of "food safety" at the FDA now, the designer of the "food safety" bills and the Monsanto person who would run any giant powerful agency over all US food.

Why is wrong with FWW?

They have people running after fish but say nothing about the whole food supply being at risk through a masive bill they don't mention.

Monsanto and S 510 http://yupfarming.blogspot.com/2010/08/whats-around-s-510.html

Monsanto and Blackwater http://www.democracynow.org/2010/9/16/the_nation__docs_reveals_blackwater

S 510: Absolute power comes from absolute control over food.
http://devinder-sharma.blogspot.com/2010/09/absolute-power-comes-from-absolute.html

Food and water watch has been following S 510 and the companion bill in the house (passed last summer) for a couple of years. I have received tons of viral email opposing this legislation and it is BS. Here is their most recent update Food Safety Legislation November 19, 2010 Update: The Senate is in the final stages of debate on FDA reform legislation (S. 510) and is scheduled to vote on the bill on Monday November 29th. At this point, the Tester amendment to exempt some small farms and small processing facilities is in the version of the bill that should be up for a vote on November 29. There was a modification to the requirements for which facilities are eligible for exemptions. The conditions for the exemptions are now farms or facilities that: sell more than half of their product through direct sales (not through wholesale or to another food processor.) sell less than $500,000 of product per year. sell within a state or within 275 miles of their farm or facility (this was lowered from 400 miles in earlier versions.) The amendments to the bill that will be considered are: an amendment by Senator Johanns (NE) to change a reporting requirement in the health care bill. an amendment by Senator Baucus (MT) on a reporting requirement in the health care bill. an amendment by Senator Coburn (OK) to replace S. 510 with a different bill that would focus on third party audit programs and new technologies as ways to deal with food safety. This bill could promote risky technologies like irradiation and put the food industry in charge of setting – and enforcing – its own standards for food safety. an amendment by Senator Coburn (OK) to prohibit the use of earmarks in budget bills. After considering these amendments, the Senate is supposed to vote on the bill on November 29th. If the Senate passes the bill, it still has to be reconciled with a different bill passed last year by the House. The House could pass the Senate version of the bill (to avoid having a conference committee to reconcile the two different bills) or try to have a conference, although there is not much time left in the session to accomplish this. September 2010 Update: Last summer, the House passed its version of a food safety bill (H.R. 2749) We’ve been waiting for the Senate to work on their own food safety bill ever since. Now there is a bill (S. 510) that could go to a vote at any time. S. 510 is not exactly the same as the House bill, but there are a lot of similarities. House/Senate Bill Similarities Senate Bill Strengths Compared to House Bill Senate Bill Weaknesses Compared to House Bill Both apply to the Food Drug Administration and the foods that agency regulates (produce, shell eggs, processed foods) but would not apply to foods covered by the USDA (meat, poultry, processed egg products.) Both bills would give the FDA mandatory recall authority (right now, the federal government does not have the power to order food to be recalled; food recalls are done voluntarily by the company producing the food.) Both bills instruct FDA to come up with plans for traceability of food, with instructions that the agency should include public comment, conduct feasibility studies, and consider the impacts on small businesses. Does not charge businesses any fees (the House bill would charge $500 per food processing facility to generate revenue for the FDA’s inspection program. Many small processors are concerned that this fee is too burdensome and object to being charged the same amount as larger facilities.) Clearer instructions to the FDA to consider the impact any new regulation could have on organic, small-scale, or direct marketing farm or food processors and to consider the impact on conservation programs and practices. Includes a program to offer technical assistance and education for small farms. Instructs FDA to inspect food processing facilities less frequently than the House bill – once every five years for facilities classified as high risk and once every seven years for low risk facilities. House bill would require high risk facilities to be inspected every 6 to 12 months and medium-risk facilities to be inspected every 1 to 3 years. Weaker provision for how FDA would inspect foreign facilities that sell food to the United States. Fails to give FDA the authority to look at company’s records when they are there during a normal inspection (now the agency has to wait until there is a problem to access company recordkeeping; in some cases they have not found out until there is a problem that the company wasn’t keeping any records that would help trace contaminated food.) http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/food/foodsafety/

Moore, you might be interested in this story from Democracy Now. The link you provided to them has no info about S 510. http://www.democracynow.org/2010/8/24/largest_egg_recall_in_us_history PATTY LOVERA: So, I mean, historically, there’s always been industry resistance to any food safety regulation, whether it’s in Congress or through the agencies. And so, you know, there’s large trade associations for every sector of our food supply, starting from, you know, the large agribusiness-type producers all the way through to the grocery stores. Interestingly, on this food safety legislation in the last year or so, seen a lot less public, at least, resistance to this legislation, because the industry is getting such a black eye from all these big recalls. But on eggs specifically, a rule—you know, not legislation, but a rule—from FDA was proposed in the Clinton administration on salmonella in eggs. It just went into effect last month, because there was so much pressure for so many years to stall it that it took, you know, over a decade to get these rules through saying, "Here are steps you should do to prevent salmonella." So it’s just one example of how hard it is to get new regulation on anybody in the food industry. AMY GOODMAN: The legislation called S.510 in the Senate right now. Patty Lovera, there’s also another hearing on Friday. Explain what these hearings are that are traveling around the country. PATTY LOVERA: Yeah, this is a really interesting opportunity, we think, that—Food & Water Watch—that we have this year. So, sadly, it’s historic, but the federal government is, for the first time, doing some hearings around the country to talk about competition in agriculture, you know, to look at this issue of consolidation. Are these markets fair? Can everybody of all different sizes of farms, can they compete? Do they have options to be in agriculture anymore? And so, there have been three already around the country. The fourth one is in Colorado on Friday, and it’s focused on livestock markets. And so, the Attorney General and the Secretary of Agriculture will be there, and they’re going to spend a full day. And we were hearing that thousands of people, lots of them cattle producers and hog producers, are coming. And we hope it’s a good airing of these issues that these companies have so much power, they’ve consolidated so much of the market under their control that small family-sized farms, independent operators are just shut out. And so, it’s long overdue. And so they’re doing five hearings in total over the course of this year. And then the million-dollar question is, what do we get after the hearings? What kind of action are we going to see from the government in terms of antitrust and just basic regulations about whether these markets are operating fairly? AMY GOODMAN: And the role of the family and community farms in these hearings? PATTY LOVERA: Well, so far, I’ve been to the three that have happened already, and so far there’s been a pretty good, you know, airing of the problems. It’s been a good opportunity for folks to either be—you know, there’s official panels where people make official testimony. And, of course, both sides have to be represented, so there’s lots of large-scale producers saying how everything is great. But there’s also been, you know, a good number of independent, family-scale operators saying the rules are rigged, you know, this is not a level playing field, we need a referee, and we need these companies that buy our animals or buy our crops to act in good faith, which they’re not doing often. And so, there’s been a pretty good airing of the problem. There’s been a couple of, you know, chunks where people can just stand up and make a public comment, and people have been doing that. And so, I don’t think that the government can claim there’s not a problem, if they’re listening at these hearings. The question is, what we’re going to make them do about it when they’re wrapped up. AMY GOODMAN: It’s interesting that you mention that Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack is going to be at this hearing on Friday. We know where he’s going to be today: he’s going to be meeting this morning with Shirley Sherrod. She told CNN she was offered the position of Deputy Director of Advocacy and Outreach, working to improve the department’s image. Of course, Shirley Sherrod is the—was the victim of the edited videotape of a speech she gave before the NAACP. So Vilsack and Sherrod are meeting for the first time this morning. Patty Lovera, thanks so much for being with us, assistant director of Food & Water Watch. David Kirby, I’d like to ask you to stay with us, as we continue to talk about not only eggs, but the looming threat of industrial pig, dairy and poultry farms on humans and the environment. This is Democracy Now! Thanks so much for being with us. We’ll be back in a minute.