Congress does it again. This time to Famer's Markets.
I don't flippin believe this. Who's brilliant idea was this any way ?
quick. I used to live up in Ohio and we go would get a lot
of our fruit and veggies from small road side stands. Never,
ever had a problem.
It's not the small farmers that cause the problem. It's the
big corporate greed heads and processing plants that are
destroying the food.
C
Even growers who only sell onlyThis is just pain stupid. I hope someone kills this thing but
fruit and/or vegetables at
farmers markets would not only
have to register, but they would
be subject inspections by federal
agents of their property and all
records related to food
production. The frequency of
these inspections will be
determined by the whim of the
Food Safety Administration.
Mandatory "safety" records would
have to be kept. Anyone who fails
to register and comply with all
of this nonsense could be facing
a fine of up to $1,000,000 per
violation.
quick. I used to live up in Ohio and we go would get a lot
of our fruit and veggies from small road side stands. Never,
ever had a problem.
It's not the small farmers that cause the problem. It's the
big corporate greed heads and processing plants that are
destroying the food.
C
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This would change my whole diet. I don't know where I would get real food. Please somebody tell me this is an error.
March 11, 2009 4:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think this is in response to things like the recent peanut butter scare and the spinach and lettuce with the E-coli.
I am reading the bill now....and so far I think the mom & pop roadside stands that sell fruits and vegetables will be exempt as long as they don't sell their stuff 'processed'.
They are looking to nab the guys like the peanut butter plant person that knowingly let the bad peanuts be processed even though he knew they were bad.
I'm also going to contact my House members and ask point blank about how the farmer's markets will be affected. I love farmer's markets...and in the green economy the Obama administration is pushing, they will become even more vital.
$0.02
March 11, 2009 9:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
That is cute Flower. your two cents. But I am impressed that you are looking into this yourself and reading the bill. And I know you a little bit of Voltaire in you and wish to till your own garden.
March 11, 2009 9:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is straight from the bill (so sorry, don't know how to format links):
(14) FOOD PRODUCTION FACILITY- The term ‘food production facility’ means any farm, ranch, orchard, vineyard, aquaculture facility, or confined animal-feeding operation. [end quote]
And they, too, have to produce records, keep plans and allow inspections. I'd love to be wrong, but I'm afraid that mom and pop fruit stands will be subject to this law, too.
March 12, 2009 2:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, that was an interesting read, wasn't it, Nika? I hope my brain damage is temporary. :o)
The part you cited had me going for a while, too. But, then I looked at the section above about exclusions. Here's the whole thing...(my bold)
I took this to mean the mom & pop roadside stands and the small farmers selling at farmer's markets would be excluded from registering with the new agency and therefore not subject to the same regulations.
Could I be reaching too far for that conclusion?
March 12, 2009 6:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
No, the way I read it is that Food Production Facilities (FPF) are excluded from registration requirements that apply to Food Establishments (FE). Regulation of FPF is not identical to regulation of FE, otherwise they would not be defined separately. However, FPF is still subject to inspection, record keeping and other requirements, many of which will undoubtedly make it much more difficult for local foods to make it to local consumers.
March 12, 2009 8:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Okay....I am seeing the differentiation now. Migwetch (thanks), Nika!
I am going to keep studying on this...for some reason, it interests me.
The e-mail I sent to my rep. regurgitated the standard reply. I expect a real answer....oh, probably never. But, I will find out the information somehow.
March 12, 2009 8:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, it doesn't just interest me, it deeply concerns me, and I'm honestly hoping that I'm reading the bill wrong and it's not as scary as it appears (disclaimer: I am not a lawyer but a legal translator).
Food security should not mean limiting our choices but rather expanding them, primarily through stimulating, not strangling small local operations. Moreover, the timing of this bill, which I am hoping will not get passed, could not be worse. As other jobs disappear, many people are turning to farming for their livelihood in these difficult times, my family being one of them.
So I'm going to write to my congresswoman and also see what Slow Food USA, of which I am a member, are going to do, if anything.
March 13, 2009 8:05 AM | Reply | Permalink
We are of a like mind on this issue, Nika. Especially during these difficult times. Folks just want to feed their families and if they have some left over to sell...well, let's just hope government doesn't get in the way of the little guy following their bliss. Or their lunch.
The more looking around the 'net I do, the more obvious it becomes that this bill is raising a good stink. I've reaped some good info, I think, and if I can get my poop in a group I'm going to post a blog entry soon.
March 13, 2009 8:58 AM | Reply | Permalink
Please do so, Flowerchild. This blog entry disappeared from the list far too soon, while the issue remains important not just to select foodies like me, but to each and every one - unless we all want to start eating Wallmart "food." Interestingly, I've also been spending time since yesterday reading different responses to the bill. Stink there's definitely a lot of but whether it's stinky enough or whether it comes from powerful enough places to change things remains to be seen.
BTW, I'm not saying some regulation in principle is not necessary. But the big ag businesses are the ones that need to be regulated first and foremost as all the recent scares came not from little mom and pop shops but from huge commercial operations.
March 13, 2009 10:12 AM | Reply | Permalink
Flowerchild, I have a question and hoping that may be you could help me figure it out.
This article in SciAm seems to say that there are TWO bills: one in the House, sponsored by Dick Durbin, Judd Gregg, Ted Kennedy and Richard Burr, and one in Congress, sponsored by Rosa DeLauro. Both appear to be re Food Safety Modernization. Which one have we been reading? Now I'm totally confused.
March 13, 2009 10:50 AM | Reply | Permalink
I could not get the link to work at SciAm, but the one we have been reading is the House bill by DeLauro.
I found a link to Durbin's website that addresses the other Food Safety Modernization bill.
http://durbin.senate.gov/showRelease.cfm?releaseId=308982
Now, I am off on another hunt! :o)
March 13, 2009 11:29 AM | Reply | Permalink
Sorry about my pathetic HTML skills, I should've first made sure the link works. Trying again: http://tinyurl.com/bzvf8f.
And thanks for the link to the Durbin site, I'll get on with the digging, too. ;)
March 13, 2009 1:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
so far I think the mom & pop roadside stands that sell fruits and vegetables will be exempt as long as they don't sell their stuff 'processed'.
I dearly hope so, Flower. Or someone modifies it so that it does. I read some of it but am not that fluent in government-eese. (I got a D in it in college ;-))
C
March 11, 2009 11:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is what happens when Monsanto and friends are allowed to write policy.
March 12, 2009 12:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
Monsanto has friends? Who knew?
March 12, 2009 12:51 AM | Reply | Permalink
What the?
I'm an organic vegetable grower. I know shit, and this shit stinks.
The language in this bill does not just threaten roadside stands and markets. It threatens and is almost targeted at the entire local food economy. It will affect the thousands of restaurants that who've been buying local food, and small meat producers already burdened by ridiculous regulations which treat their carefully raised product as one step above toxic waste. Regulations like this one are so stupidly put together: instead of targeting the .1% of producers who are grossly negligent, they just try to preemptively punish everyone, basically saying to the small food artisan, "you see kid, this farming biz is just to darn tough for you. Why don't you let the big boys play?" It's the old Earl K. Butz "go big or go home."
I could go on, but the point is folks have got to get on this. The local food movement has bloomed in the last 5 years, despite antipathy from the Bush regime. I've watched as dozens of new growers and food craftspeople have sprung up and learned to make a decent living selling good food to people in their community. And I'm not talking upper middle class communities. All strata buy our food. If you don't believe me come to my Farmers' Market on a Thursday evening in Providence and see who's there.
We thought at least we'd be left alone by a Democratic Congress, but this seems downright vindictive. As written, it has the power to set us all back 10 years in terms of where our food comes from. Call your congressperson, and buy my dirty, unregistered carrots!
March 12, 2009 9:39 AM | Reply | Permalink
Unbelievable. Big agribusiness sees the coming tide of disgust at our food policy and the turn towards urban farming, slow food, and farmers markets that it will bring. They are trying to preemptively stem their losses.
There is a huge constituency for slow-food here in San Francisco, and were pressuring Pelosi to straighten out her act, to no avail thus far.
March 12, 2009 3:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Whatever happened to States Rights?
Used to be the FDA only had authority over interstate commerce. California had its own verion of the Fed FDA. This FSA seems to blow state lines away entirely and without cause.
But even if individual states had their own new layer of bureaucracy, that strikes this reader as too much.
March 12, 2009 5:19 PM | Reply | Permalink