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Slow Down Food Safety Bill #HR 2749
Commercial industrial farming
and the advances of science into agriculture
have led to new fragmented systems of food growing.
When food becomes an extreme commodity,
and the grower and processor lose the beat with
the inherent integrity of what they are doing,
the farming system can become contaminated.
It it the system itself that is contaminated now.
Deaths from Peanut Butter, or injuries from spinach
are symptoms of an underlying disease condition--
we have strayed from the basic understanding
that food growing and Cultural advancement go
hand in hand.
The Farmer and Gardener
hear the "beet." This is an
education process.
I call it BEET KEEPERS, Return!
Who wants to stand out against Food Safety? That answer
is simple. No one in their intelligent mind is against
Food Safety. There are too many lives at stake,
both the lives of eaters as well as the continuation
of a system of growing food that is older than time,
and more inherently Intelligent
than science as many of us now know it.
RE: #HR 2749. Slow down.
Take time to get it right.
We haven't a moment to loose.
Date: 7/19/2009 10:30:27 AM ( 15 y ) ... viewed 1457 times
GO SIGN THE PETITION NOW TO
PROTECT SMALL FARMERS and OUR HEALTH FREEDOMS.
This petition on the site of the FTCLDF
is very well done. When I put in my
contact info, it brought up my representatives
and senators, and opportunity to direct community
with local newspapers. Excellent work.
# HR 2749 needs to be defeated
in its present form.
I recommend taking more time to
work out the bugs. Every one
is in favor of Food Safety.
This bill has some good points,
but needs work. There are some
amendments that need to be considered
to meet the needs of all concerned.
--Leslie
111th U.S. Congress - House Bill
FSEA #HR 2749 (Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009)
http://www.ftcldf.org/petitions/pnum993.php
July 20, 2008
THE FUTURE OF AGRICULTURE.
WHICH DO YOU CHOOSE?
1. THE JAPANESE STERILE METHOD
2. LIFE ON THE ORGANIC FARM
Update:
July 20, 09
7:52 PM
July 19, 09
RE: #usbill ##HR2749 FOOD SAFETY ENHANCEMENT ACT --FSEA
Today is the morning I go to the
HILLCREST FARMERS MARKET,
one of the best Farmers' Markets in our USA.
The quality of food and friendship at the
market is extraordinary.
The efforts made by various local, organic farmers
to bring to the market food that can be classified
as therapeutic and life giving is profound.
There are farmers here who stand outside
of industrial agricultural, the kind of agricultural
that is implicated in the various health hazards
regarding Food Safety that are now a plague on our
nation and the world.
These local, organic farmers are ultimately self regulated.
They eat their own food. They are growing food in numbers
of cases for specific customers who they know by name.
There is a high degree of loyalty between the farmers
and their customers, who go beyond what I would call
customers. The farmers and the people eating the food
are in many cases on a first name basis.
I work closely with three of these farmers, and buy from
an additional three or four for the food I eat each week.
I am especially close to the RODRIGUEZ family, a fourth
generation california farming family that has been organic
since 1984. I eat Thanksgiving with them often. I have
watched the kids grow up. There are a ton of them,
and many of them help at the Hillcrest Farmers Market.
There are weeks when I take an hour of my life or more
and stand with Joe's family. Some times I will sell beans,
Northeastern Green Beans or Purple Beans.
This act is to be spiritual service.
I am repaying Joe for his kindness toward me.
I consider his family my adopted farming family.
I have been living and dying with the ups and down
this family has endured to keep farming.
There has been many downs and a number of ups
during the last ten years.
Often, I connect with the people who come to buy
on a first name basis. I am here to not only sell beans
but make help people see themselves as a Friend of the Farm.
Sometimes I will take photos of Joe with these new friends.
Joe is one of the kindest and good hearted men I know,
as our numbers of the other farmers who feed me each week.
Not only are they self regulated, but they already endure
intense Rules and Regs from local and statewide government
organizations, as well as industry organizations. Many of these
farmers were born into the healthy model of agriculture that
we now call organically grown, others came into this model
because of personal concerns. They learned through experience
to turn away from industrial commercial agricultural.
In the case of Joe it was hurting his lungs, and numbers of his
children still are effected by breathing conditions due to the
families use of pesticides. This was before Joe and family
became J.R. ORGANICS.
SLOW DOWN THIS FOOD SAFETY BILL
I do not want to stray further from the point,
I want to make here.
#usbill #HR2749, the new Food Safety Enchancement Act 2009,
has been described as a fast moving train that is being rushed
through Congress by our President and I imagine his Food Safety
Working Group.
There are many lives at stake here, not only the lives of people
who are dying from contaminated foods, but an entire farming system
that is the backbone of American Agriculture. The family system
I am addresses is the one described when I talk about Joe.
This system of small, local family farms in the backbone of America.
More than this, the diversified farming methods that numbers of these
farmers still aspire to use, is the time tested model of agriculture
that people and cultures have known for thousands of years.
The system they are using is based on nature, and the needs
of human beings.
This system of natural farming has been challenged for the last
100 years, but basically when all is said and done, we cannot live
in any healthy way without it.
Commercial industrial farming
and the advances of science into agriculture
leading to new fragmented systems of food growing
are a by product of errors in judgement as well as practice.
When food becomes an extreme commodity,
and the grower and processor lose the beat with
the inherent integrity of what they are doing,
the farming system becomes contaminated.
It it the system itself that is contaminated now.
Deaths from Peanut Butter, or injuries from spinach
are symptoms of an underlying disease condition--
we have strayed from the basic understanding
that food growing and Cultural advancement go
hand in hand and the Farmer and Gardener
hear the "beet."
I need to go now.
The Farmers' Market is calling.
I will return with photos of farm life from
a delightful day on the farm yesterday.
I will show you here photos of today's
Hillcrest Farmers' Market.
I have felt possessed for more than two weeks
to write about #HR 2749. Take a look at some of
the PLANT YOUR DREAM BLOGS I have written
through go to this link and scanning the list.
Joe Rodriguez, Jr. AKA JOE THE FARMER
is an archetype of the American Dream fulfilled.
He does not stand alone. There are thousands
or more like him.
NICK MARIVELL of NICK's ORGANIC FARM
spoke at the hearing before the COMMITTEE OF
AGRICULTURE July 16, the HONORABLE
COLLIN C. PETERSON presiding.
Collin Peterson is a fair minded man.
He and others concluded:
4:17 PM
July 17 ,09
PRESS RELEASE,JULY 17
"None of the producer witnesses at the hearing today would support the Food Safety Enhancement Act as it is written," said Rep. Bob Goodlatte (VA-6). "It is clear that members of the committee and our witnesses are concerned about the new authority the bill gives FDA to regulate on the farm production practices. The notion that FDA can dictate to farmers in every region of the country, growing and producing a vast array of crops and livestock for a range of markets, is irrational. I will continue to work with my colleagues to improve this food safety legislation."
http://agriculture.house.gov/list/press/agriculture_dem/07162009foodsafety.html
Nick Marivell, local organic farmer of Maryland,
was quoted in CAROLYN LOCHHEAD's
excellent piece on the Hearings RE: #usbill #HR 2749.
Marivell described #HR 2749 as a speeding train.
No one wanted to get out in front of it. Who wants
to stand out against Food Safety? That answer
is simple. No one in their intelligent mind is against
Food Safety. There are two many lives at stake.
Both the lives of eaters and a system of growing
food that is older than time, and more inherently
Intelligent than science as we now know it.
We must take time.
We haven't a moment to loose.
We do not want a train wreak.
Leslie Goldman
Your Enchanted Gardener
8:29 AM
July 19, 2009
San Diego California
RELATED BLOGS AND LINKS
LARRY WOOTEN
representing the AMERICAN FARM BUREAU
and its 6 million members gave testimony at the
July 16 hearing. He and others who spoke expressed
concerns about #usbill #HR 2749 in its current form.
See the AMERICAN FARM BUREAU SIte here.
Staff CONTACTS FOR AMERICAN FARM BUREAU
http://www.fb.org/index.php?fuseaction=about.staff
WEB SITES for House of Representative
Department of Agriculture Members
http://agriculture.house.gov/inside/members.html
Growing Standards
in HR 2749
http://www.ftcldf.org/news/news-15june2009.htm
IV. GROWING STANDARDS
The FSEA will also directly impact produce farmers by authorizing FDA to tell them how they can grow their crops. The bill would require the HHS Secretary to establish by regulation “science-based standards for the safe growing, harvesting, packing, sorting, transporting, and holding of raw agricultural commodities that–(1) are from a plant or a fungus; and (2) for which the Secretary has determined that such standards minimize the risk of serious adverse health consequences or death to human or animals.” [section 104(b), sec 419A(a)–p. 31]
Any issued regulation “may include standards addressing manure use, water quality, employee hygiene, sanitation and animal control, and temperature controls, as the Secretary determines to be reasonably necessary.” [section 104(b), sec 419A(b)(3)–p. 32]
In issuing the regulation, the Secretary “shall take into consideration, consistent with ensuring enforceable public health protection, the impact on small-scale and diversified farms, and on wildlife habitat, conservation practices, watershed-protection efforts, and organic production methods” [section 104(b), sec 419A(b)(7)–pp. 32-33]
Based on the FDA’s track record with “good agricultural practices”, the agency is unlikely to adequately address the differences between industrial operations and sustainable farms. The danger is that FDA will adopt regulations that treat small farms growing a diversity of crops organically (whether certified or not) the same as a facility growing thousands of acres of a single crop conventionally. The regulations could be expensive and burdensome, or simply not feasible, for small farms. Any produce that does not meet the established safety standards would be considered adulterated under the FSEA [section 104(a)–p. 30].
Aside from produce, the Secretary is charged with issuing “science-based performance standards . . . applicable to foods or food classes.” The Secretary is to “identify the most significant foodborne contaminants and the most significant resulting hazards . . .” and “to minimize to an acceptable level, prevent or eliminate the occurrence of such hazards” [section 103(b), sec 419–pp. 29-30]. Food that “has been manufactured, processed, packed, transported, or held under conditions that do not meet [these] standards” is considered as adulterated under the FSEA. FDA would have the power to make pasteurization of raw milk a performance standard.
THE CHEAP COST OF FOOD
Nice story from the DENVER POST
http://www.denverpost.com/perspective/ci_12856620
by MEGAN NX
7/19/09
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