2. Reestablish food safety standards previously weakened when Congress acquiesced to international standards, and then direct agencies responsible for food safety to begin hands-on inspection and enforcement of U.S. food safety standards for all imported food and for food processing facilities where food contamination is known to frequently occur.
3. Do not accord international standards more weight than is accorded any other standards, such as those recommended in studies by U.S. land grant universities.
4. Do not presume that international standards " designed specifically to facilitate trade " are appropriate standards to be imposed on U.S. farmers and ranchers or that corporate food processors can adequately police themselves under HACCP. International standards must not be referenced or cited in U.S. food safety statutes, and HACCP must be reformed.
5. Take no action that would impose any additional regulatory burdens on any U.S. farmer or rancher, including any requirement to register their farms and ranches with the federal government or participate in a federally mandated food traceability program.
6. If Congress suspects that a particular segment of U.S. production agriculture is contributing to food safety problems, a formal risk and hazard analysis must be conducted to determine the specific practice(s) that caused or contributed to the food safety problem and the specific type of farming operation involved in that practice (i.e., an independent farming operation or an industrialized food production unit) to determine the specific corrective actions needed.
"The House bill is a classic example of addressing only the symptoms of the problem rather than the problem itself, Thornsberry pointed out. "The problem is that the U.S. has lowered its import standards to facilitate higher-risk food imports; it has abrogated its duty to inspect and enforce food safety standards both here and abroad by allowing processing plants to regulate themselves under the failed HACCP system; and, it has embraced policies that have driven independent farmers and ranchers out of business by the hundreds of thousands, replacing them with corporate-owned, industrialized food production units that have a propensity to cut food safety corners to maximize corporate profits.
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