Perhaps you will recall the burst of information earlier in the year when bill H.R.875 was first introduced.  A lot of people were worried the government was going to be snooping in their backyard gardens and that small organic farmers were going to be regulated out of business.  There were all kinds of petitions started with a lot of exclamation points and capital letters urging folks to complain to their government reps  There was/is some insistence that somehow the bill was tailor made for Big Ag.  Monsanto crops up everywhere  (pun not intended) as being behind the bill because they will benefit financially.   Here is their story.

Back in March, I read the bill sponsored by Rosa DeLauro and introduced Feb.4, 2009.  I didn't find much in it that raised my hackles.  Basically, the bill is about food safety just as the title states.  But, others did,  causing a bit of a ruckus.

Apparently a good many people presented their opinions to their congress critters because DeLauro "sent a letter to all of her colleagues explaining what the bill does and is planning a more public campaign to clear the air."  This action was prompted after mounting calls and questions from her colleagues.

DeLauro:

"This notion that we're destroying backyard farms is absurd. It's ludicrous," she says. "I chair the agriculture subcommittee of appropriations. Why would I be putting farmers out of business?"  DeLauro says she has been told that the disinformation campaign "was a libertarian operation somewhere in the country, but we're trying to figure it out."

I did, in fact, e-mail my congress critter in mid-March and about two weeks later recieved quite a detailed response to my simple question of how the bill would effect backyard gardeners and small farmers. Here, in part, is the reply from the office of Bart Stupak (which was written before DeLauro sent out her letter to colleagues, so I know somebody at Stupak's office was doing some homework)....

March 31, 2009

Dear Mrs Xxxxxxxxxxxx:

Thank you for contacting me regarding H.R. 875, the Food Safety Modernization Act.  I appreciated hearing from you on this issue.
[snip]
H.R. 875 would establish a Food Safety Administration headed by an expert in food safety within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).  By separating food safety regulation from drug and device approvals, the bill would allow food safety experts and researchers to focus on food safety. H.R. 875 would also provide the Food Safety Administration with the regulatory tools to access important records, recall products, and penalize companies for knowingly selling tainted products.

would address current weaknesses in the system by requiring traceability, requiring food companies to take preventive measures, mandating regular inspections, and demanding that imported food meet our safety standards.  
[snip]
While the number of cases of food borne illness has more than doubled in the last five years, the past Administration drastically reduced the resources for addressing food safety issues. The budget for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition has been cut from $48 million to $25 million in just three years. Also, annual inspections of domestic food processing plants dropped 25 percent since 2005.

On January 28, 2009, I introduced the Food and Drug Administration Globalization Act of 2009 along with Congressman John Dingell and Congressman Frank Pallone This legislation is a critical step toward equipping the FDA with the regulations and needed to safeguard Americans in the global marketplace for food, drugs, devices, and cosmetics.

The Food and Drug Administration Globalization Act would guarantee FDA the funding to significantly increase inspections of food facilities and improve outdated information systems.  The legislation requires food producers to have preventive food safety plans and subject the plans to FDA inspection, requires food imports to meet all US standards, closes the loopholes in FDA's ability to trace the source of contaminated products, and imposes stiff penalties on companies that violate safety standards.

Whether we are talking about the Food Safety Modernization Act or my legislation, Congress is not intending to stop individuals from growing food for their own consumption.  In addition, my legislation includes specific language that exempts small businesses from paying the registration fee.

[snip]
Sincerely,

BART STUPAK
Member of Congress

The Food and Drug Administration Globalization Act (H.R.759) mentioned in the reply from Stupak is different from the Food Safety Modernization Act, but important, because it details how the funding needed to reinstate all the cuts by the previous administration will be generated, as well as including the updating of the FDA as it exists now, not just the food part, which is what H.R.875 is concerned with.  (How's that for a confusing run-on sentence?)

In English:
 

• The Food and Drug Administration Globalization Act updates the FDA in its entirety.
• The Food Safety Modernization Act peels off the food part of FDA, sets it up as its own entity within HHS and then updates that part of it.

Somewhere along the line, I am reckoning the two bills will merge together.

The funding referred to will come from registration fees paid by food producers. This annual fee was recently adjusted from $1000 down to $500.  As it stands now, small businesses will be exempt from paying the fee.  So, if you want to sell yer surplus termaters to your neighbors, go right ahead and set up a card table at the local farmer's market or at the end of your driveway.  Then just sit back and rake in the moolah. You'll be a millionaire in no time.

The reason I am bringing this matter to light once again is that recently, the Food Safety Modernization Act moved to the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry.  

According to what I've read, the bill appears to be headed towards passage sometime in August when Congress returns from recess.

Personally, I think the whole thing is a good idea.  The bills are essentially bringing the FDA up to date and reinstating the policies that were stripped away by the Bush administration.  Self-regulation just did not work.

If you have a concern with the direction of this bill, now, today, is the time to get word to your congress critter. 



Links of interest:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:h875:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:h.r.00759: