HR 759 would give authority to the FDA to establish “science-based” minimum standards for the safe production and harvesting of fruits and vegetables. These food safety standards would address manure use, water quality, employee hygiene, sanitation and animal control, temperature controls, and nutrients on the farm.
Such one-size-fits-all food safety rules, especially preventative measures, created with industrial-scale farms and processors in mind, would likely put smaller and organic producers at an economic and competitive disadvantage. A similar voluntary set of regulations in California have damaged the environment and hurt organic and fresh produce growers.
These high-quality, owner-operated, and often “local” farms are an important part of the solution to our nation’s food quality problems—not the cause—and they must be protected!
It should be noted that unlike conventional farms, organic producers are already highly regulated in managing manure by composting and other requirements that dramatically reduce pathogenic risk. Spinach, tomatoes, peppers, almonds, and peanuts are in no way inherently dangerous. These fresh and nutritious foods pose a risk only after they are contaminated, which is why new food safety legislation must address the underlying causes of food safety hazards.
Whatever the final legislation looks like, it must make clear that it is the intent of Congress to ensure that ensuing regulations will not disproportionately burden small-scale family farm producers and farmstead businesses that are the backbone of the local, sustainable and organic food movement.
Part of the Solution, Not Part of the Problem!
We must tell Congress to protect high quality organic and local food production
Please contact the following representatives to urge them to support legislation that will protect organic and small-scale family farmers while strengthening food safety:
• Henry Waxman (D-CA), Chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce—send a message through the Committee website at: http://energycommerce.house.gov/
• John Dingell (D-MI), the sponsor of HR759
• Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), the sponsor of HR 875
• Jim Costa (D-CA), the sponsor of HR 1332
• Your own district’s representative, especially if he or she is a cosponsor of one of the food safety bills (see below for a list of cosponsors)
Tell them other elements that must be included in new food safety legislation include:
1. A thorough analysis of the underlying causes of food safety hazards. HR 759 proposes to regulate only fresh fruit and vegetable growers, setting minimum standards without requiring a thorough evaluation of the underlying causes of food safety hazards.
However, HR 875 requires “identifying and evaluating the sources of potentially hazardous contamination or practices extending from the farm or ranch to the consumer that may increase the risk of food-borne illness.” Such an analysis could potentially identify aspects of industrialized/centralized agriculture and food processing as serious health threats.
2. HR 759 should establish categories for food (processing) facilities to ensure that smaller businesses are not disadvantaged by one-size-fits-all registration fees.
3. The final bill should also determine categories for “food production facilities” (farms) — based on level of risk. These categories should differentiate between farms based on criteria including size and organic certification. A certified small-scale organic farm, as an example, selling its produce in the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) model or through farmers markets or roadside stands should be regulated differently from a large-scale, conventional farm selling commodities to a national market.
4. Also, some small-scale farmers, including members of the Amish community, will find mandatory electronic record keeping requirements onerous and should be able to access alternatives, or be exempted due to scale.
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