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April 2009

Food safety legislation

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  • Food safety legislation
    Proposed bills H.R. 875: Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009 and H.R. 759: Food And Drug Administration Globalization Act of 2009 are designed to protect the public health. Are they fair?

    If you purchase organic produce for your family, you may want to pay attention to legislation currently pending in the U.S. Congress. For example, let’s look at the bill H.R. 875: Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009, which is labeled “To establish the Food Safety Administration within the Department of Health and Human Services to protect the public health by preventing food-borne illness, ensuring the safety of food, improving research on contaminants leading to food-borne illness, and improving security of food from intentional contamination, and for other purposes.” There are major concerns being expressed all over the Internet about some power shifts this bill would create. First, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) would be divided into two sections, the first for food safety, the second for drug and medical devices. The “one-size-fits-all” regulation approach heavily favors large agribusinesses at the expense of small farmers. Some who have studied this bill believe that organic farmers would be regulated out of maintaining the purity of their operations.

    Another bill that some see as an even stronger threat is H.R. 759: Food And Drug Administration Globalization Act of 2009, labeled “To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to improve the safety of food, drugs, devices, and cosmetics in the global market, and for other purposes.” This bill has several provisions that many believe could cause problems for small farms and food processors.

    While the accuracy of some Internet articles can be challenged, calm voices in the discussion are urging that the proposed legislation be revised to state in more reasonable terms so that “food safety legislation … addresses the inherent dangers of our industrialized food system without burdening certified organic and farm-to-consumer operations.” Below are some resources to review to get up to speed on matters that may determine what will be available in your local grocery stores in the future.
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