Important Information and Action Alert on H.R. 2749:Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009

Please read the following information on HR 2749. The concern is that the real intent behind the food safety bill is to extend the powers of the government and though representatives in Washington write reassuring emails about the intent, the fact is that the language of the law is interpreted literally and "intent" has no meaning in most courts since the spirit of the law appears to be missing in the psyche of judges.

Alarming Provisions:

* HR 2749 would impose an annual registration fee of $500 on any "facility" that holds, processes, or manufactures food. Although "farms" are exempt, the agency has defined "farm" narrowly. And people making foods such as lacto-fermented vegetables, cheeses, or breads would be required to register and pay the fee, which could drive beginning and small producers out of business during difficult economic times.

* HR 2749 would empower FDA to regulate how crops are raised and harvested. It puts the federal government right on the farm, dictating to our farmers.

* HR 2749 would give FDA the power to order a quarantine of a geographic area, including "prohibiting or restricting the movement of food or of any vehicle being used or that has been used to transport or hold such food within the geographic area." Under this provision, farmers markets and local food sources could be shut down, even if they are not the source of the contamination. The agency can halt all movement of all food in a geographic area.

* HR 2749 would empower FDA to make random warrantless searches of the business records of small farmers and local food producers, without any evidence whatsoever that there has been a violation. Even farmers selling direct to consumers would have to provide the federal government with records on where they buy supplies, how they raise their crops, and a list of customers.

* HR 2749 charges the Secretary of Health and Human Services with establishing a tracing system for food. Each "person who produces, manufactures, processes, packs, transports, or holds such food" would have to "maintain the full pedigree of the origin and previous distribution history of the food," and "establish and maintain a system for tracing the food that is interoperable with the systems established and maintained by other such persons." The bill does not explain how far the traceback will extend or how it will be done for multi-ingredient foods. With all these ambiguities, it's far from clear how much it will cost either the farmers or the taxpayers.

* HR 2749 creates severe criminal and civil penalties, including prison terms of up to 10 years and/or fines of up to $100,000 for each violation for individuals.

5 MINUTE ACTION on HR 2749 FOOD SAFETY on Small Farms

1- Sign the "Oppose HR 2749" petition on the Fund website (www.farmtoconsumer.org) and send messages to your legislators through the petition system.

2- Contact your Representative. Use the finder tool at www.Congress.org

3. Call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121.

4- Send a message through the petition system at http://www.ftcldf.org/petitions_new.htm.

5- forward this message to your friends. Take my name off the forward, please.

UPDATE: JUNE 17 HEARING

A further amended version of HR 2749 passed out of the Energy and Commerce Committee on June 17. The bill next goes to House floor for a vote. HR 2749 could be amended again before the vote takes place.

The worst provisions of HR 2749 remain in the bill. The latest version does, however, reduce the amount of civil fines that can be assessed against individuals and corporations; but the fines FDA can levy under the latest amendment are still substantial.

The bill has tightened the standards under which the federal government can quarantine food in a geographic area; but the Secretary of Health and Human Services is still given the power to impose a geographic quarantine without a court order.

The latest version of HR 2749 can be found at
http://energycommerce.house.gov/Press_111/20090617/hr2749_ans.pdf

HR 2749 needs to be defeated!! Please take action NOW.

IMPORTANT ACTION ALERT: FLAWED FOOD SAFETY BILLS IN CONGRESS

Many of you have been hearing about HR 875, a food safety bill that has been introduced in Congress.  Although much of what has circulated the internet is not accurate, HR 875 does pose serious problems for sustainable farmers and their consumers. Unfortunately, there are already four other “food safety” bills that also pose serious problems:  HR 814, HR 759, S 425, and S 510.  HR 814 is essentially a mandatory NAIS bill, while the others focus on produce, processed foods and game under FDA jurisdiction.

Consumers who buy nutrient-dense foods from local, sustainable farmers can feel secure about the safety of their food.  The same is not true for the majority who buy their food in grocery stores from mass-production industrialized operations.  We understand the pressure that Congress faces to improve the safety of that mainstream system.  But it is critical that the laws not interfere with the right to choose local foods or with our farmers’ ability to raise safer, healthier foods!

Small sustainable farms are fundamentally different from factory farms, and should not be regulated the same way!  All of the proposed food safety bills suffer from a “one-size-fits-all” approach.  And even though the bills’ sponsors might intend for them to apply only to food crossing state lines, the federal agencies regularly take a broader view of their jurisdiction.  The FDA’s and USDA’s past actions clearly show that Congress must place strict limitations on these agencies, or they will impose burdensome and unfair regulations and enforcement actions on small farms.

We don’t know which of these bills will move forward to committee hearings — or perhaps another bill, not yet filed, will be the one to move forward.  So we encourage everyone to send a clear message: Protect our farms from bad regulation!

TAKE ACTION:  Call your U.S. Representative and Senators.  If you do not know who represents you, you can find out at www.congress.org or by calling the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121.  Ask to speak to the staffer who handles food safety issues.

Talk with the staffer about why you support local foods.  Tell them you oppose the five bills listed above.  Ask that they support a food safety bill that focuses on the real threats to food safety, such as uninspected imports from China and lax inspections of massive slaughterhouses and other factory processing, and ask that any new laws explicitly exempt small farmers. Explain that this issue cannot be left to the agencies’ discretion, and you want a clear focus on the broken factory farm system and not on small, sustainable farmers.

UPDATE: Congressional Hearing on NAIS

Last Wednesday, the U.S. House Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy and Poultry held a hearing on NAIS.  The questions and comments of several of the Subcommittee members revealed that they view NAIS as a food safety program and critical for animal health in case of a “catastrophic outbreak.”  One member said, in essence, that the costs to farmers financially and in loss of privacy must be weighed against the “cost in human life” if NAIS isn’t implemented.

Yet USDA continues to provide absolutely no scientific evidence to support the claim that NAIS will do anything at all to improve animal health or food safety!

What NAIS will do is impose government surveillance and significant expense on animal owners for no real benefit to the public.  The only ones who will benefit from NAIS are the meat packers and exporters, tag manufacturers, database managers and other large corporations.

TAKE ACTION #2:  You can send written testimony to the Subcommittee before Friday, March 20.  Send your testimony to the Hearing Clerk, Jamie Mitchell, at Jamie.Mitchell@mail.house.gov

Put “March 11 Hearing - Animal Identification Programs” in the subject line.  Keep your comments clear, polite, and concise.

And be sure to send a copy to your Representative and Senators!  A copy of your letter to the Subcommittee makes a great follow-up to the phone call we suggest above.

http://lafayette-wapf.com/2009/03/flawed-food-safety-bills-in-congress/