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Healthy Food Safety: What's Your Say?
You are invited to attend a lively discussion
and do some gardening this Sunday
at the ENCHANTED GARDEN INTENTIONAL COMMUNITY
in San Diego. Will you be there?
The Future of Healthy Food Safety
and the Quality of Food you will be eating tomorrow
may be at stake. Now is the time to become informed
about the FOOD SAFETY ENHANCEMENT ACT (#HR2749)
and take action.
Date: 7/22/2009 4:38:10 AM ( 15 y ) ... viewed 5234 times &feed
VOTE ANTICIPATED ON #HR2749
today, July 28, 2009
TELL ALL TO CALL AND VOTE NO
WHY NO in a NUTSHELL
http://countercultureliving.com/KCCBlog/hr-2749-oh-no/comment-page-1/#comment-67
YOU CAN FOLLOW THE TIMING
OF WHAT BILLS COME UP WHEN TODAY:
http://clerk.house.gov/floorsummary/floor.html
HERE ARE PHONE NUMBERS YOU CAN CALL
beside your own REPRESENTATIVE:
http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/mcapdir.html
PHONES of AG COMMITTEE HOUSE MEMBERS
http://curezone.com/blogs/c/fm.asp?i=1463600
3:59 AM
July 28, 09
The FARR-KAPTUR AMENDMENT
was not accepted. Please Vote No now
to stop a mere 40 minute look at his bill
likely on Tuesday, July 28.
Call your Rep immediately and tell them to vote
no on #usbill #HR2749 the proposed Food Safety
Enchancement Act of 2009.
Three Ways to Contact your Representative:
1. Sign two petitions: FTCLDF Petition http://bit.ly/Oppose_HR2749
and AAHF Petition http://bit.ly/g6IJT
2. Go to "My Elected Officials" at http://www.congress.org
and enter your zip code to find your legislators. Call and/or send a fax.
3. Call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 to contact your Representative's office.
COSTS pf #HR 2749 ESTIMATED at 2 BILLION
Viewed July 28, 09
4:19 AM
10:41 AM
July 24, 09
Please call your Representative’s office and encourage
him/her to support HR 2749 ONLY if the ideas
included in the proposed Farr/Kaptur amendment
are included in the final bill.
--From RUSSELL LIBBY.
RUSSELL of the MAINE ORGANIC FARMING
and GARDENING ASSOCIATION
has been working with the
ENERGY and COMMERCE COMMITTEE.
They are the group making amendments
to #HR2749.
Food Safety Update - Action Alert
Congress To Vote Soon
Congress may vote on HR 2749, The Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009, as soon as Friday, July 24th.
MOFGA has worked closely with both Energy and Commerce Committee staff and the Maine delegation to make the bill better by:
Focusing on national and international companies that process and distribute most food
Making sure farms aren’t inadvertently treated as processors, subject to a $500 annual facility fee, or regulated beyond their impact on the food system
Making sure that any produce standards that FDA develops consider the importance of diversity, natural resources, and existing organic standards
Part of MOFGA's work with the National Organic Coalition and National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition has been to develop amendments that will:
Clarify that farmers are not facilities
Make fees fair—low or no fees for small businesses, larger fees for larger businesses
Consider whole farm system when establishing food safety standards
Please call your Representative’s office and encourage him/her to support HR 2749 ONLY if the ideas included in the proposed Farr/Kaptur amendment are included in the final bill.
Representative Mike Michaud: 202-225-6306
Representative Chellie Pingree: 202-225-6116 (Note: Rep Pingree has already signed on to the proposed amendment—please thank her for that, as well.)
HEALTHY FOOD: What is your say?
Sweet child gives momma a kiss
Sunday at the HILLCREST FARMERS' Market.
The tomato was grown at LA MILPA ORGANICA
FARM. What kind of food and Healthy Food Safely
Regulations are in your future? Let's talk this Sunday
4-7 PM.
2:14 AM
July 22, 09
If there was ever a time to understand
what you need to know about Healthy Food Safety,
and for you to take action to promote
Healthy Food Safety in your life,
this is the moment.
Be informed.
What's your say on Healthy Food Safety?
Take Action.
4-7 PM, this Sunday, July 26, join us for a lively discussion
about Health Food Safety. We will do an hour of gardening
together here at the ENCHANTED GARDEN INTENTIONAL
COMMUNITY, and then sit in a Circle where
your thoughts and ideas about Creating Healthy Food Safety
in your life will be heard and valued.
Come hear about the new FOOD SAFETY ENHANCEMENT ACT 2009
now heading through Congress. Are you in favor of giving
the FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION more regulatory powers,
as this bill suggests? Is putting the FDA in charge of regulations
for your local Farmers' Market what you want?
People have died in the last numbers of years from
eating contaminated food. Is the answer signing on to
Leafy Green Marketing Guidelines to sterilize our farms?
What is the Future of the food you are eating now?
Do you want your leafy greens grown as sterile foods
under lab conditions as they are popularizing now in Japan?
Are in O.K. with having your food grown in the "dirt?"
Is it O.K. with you if Chickens and Veggies grow in the same area?
Do you think this is healthy?
Are you in favor of decentralized local farming as a way
of insuring Healthy Food Safety?
Are more regulations your solution to ensure the food
you eat is safe?
Choose a course of Action, be it growing a single beet
in a pot, joining with others in learning how to garden,
shopping your local farmers' Market, signing a petition,
or contacting your representatives in Congress, or
doing something that only you have to suggest to our
community that will gather this Sunday.
Express your thoughts in our Circle.
President Obama now has a Food Safety Working Group
that has issued their own first guidelines.
What would you want to tell the President if he were
in our Circle this Sunday?
If you are called upon soon to give testimony before
the House of Representatives Food Agriculture Committee,
what would you say?
What did other says July 16 about the Food Safety
Enchancement Act of 2009?
Were they in favor of this Bill?
Are you in favor of this Bill as it stands now?
HEALTHY FOOD SAFETY:
BE INFORMED
WHAT's YOUR SAY?
TAKE ACTION.
We have a gathering here
at the ENCHANTED GARDEN INTENTIONAL COMMUNITY
THE LAST SUNDAY OF THE MONTH.
WEDNESDAY NIGHT "COME ALIVE" Classes will
resume in August or September.
LINKS AND RELATED BLOGS
Turning a New Leafy Green
Diagnosis and Treatment: Sterilizing the family farm
may not be the best way to keep E. coli out of your salad.
http://www.miller-mccune.com/science_environment/turning-a-new-leafy-green-195
By: Matt Palmquist | March 04, 2008 | 12:23 PM (PST) |
Beyond a program to monitor E. coli in water, Redmond argues, the key to combating it in leafy greens lies in the animal kingdom — and, more specifically, in cow manure fertilizer. "The more we look at it, the more we reluctantly have to admit that the reservoirs of E. coli are in cattle — pigs, geese and deer are just diversions," she says.
ARE THEIR NATURAL SOLUTIONS
for E. Coli Contamination?
Abstract
Wastewater originated from dairy operations may harbor human pathogens including Escherichia coli (EC). Excess nutrients present in dairy wastewater can also pollute surface and ground waters. Effective microbes (EM) and duckweed have shown a great promise in wastewater treatment. The duckweed growth and EM applications were tested. Combined application of EM and duckweed growth significantly reduced the ammonium nitrogen, total phosphorus, total suspended solids and biological oxygen demand after three months and is a very efficient way of dairy wastewater treatment.
http://www.springerlink.com/content/94k2v5533lr88224/
LOCAL FARMER BARRY LOGAN
of LA MILPA ORGANICA FARM
Speaks out about the importance
of BIO-DIVERSITY and
"Embracing the Dirt!"
HEAR Barry Logan here
http://curezone.com/blogs/fm.asp?i=1459650
KEEPING CHILDREN and DEER OUT
of the growing field?
Is this your solution for
contaminated foods?
Crops, ponds destroyed in quest for food safety
Carolyn Lochhead, Chronicle Washington Bureau
Monday, July 13, 2009
Is it true that an organic farmer in CA
was asked to quarantine a part of his field
because a deer walked on the field?
Are there people suggesting
that children under five in diapers
should be kept out of growing fields?
He has since ripped out such plants in the name of food safety, because his big customers demand sterile buffers around his crops. No vegetation. No water. No wildlife of any kind.
"I was driving by a field where a squirrel fed off the end of the field, and so 30 feet in we had to destroy the crop," he said. "On one field where a deer walked through, didn't eat anything, just walked through and you could see the tracks, we had to take out 30 feet on each side of the tracks and annihilate the crop."
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/12/MN0218DVJ8.DTL&fe...
"They're used to working inside the factory walls," said Ken Kimes, owner of New Natives farms in Aptos (Santa Cruz County) and a board member of the Community Alliance With Family Farmers, a California group. "If they're not prepared for the farm landscape, it can come as quite a shock to them. Some of this stuff that they want, you just can't actually do."
Auditors have told Kimes that no children younger than 5 can be allowed on his farm for fear of diapers. He has been asked to issue identification badges to all visitors.
Not only do the rules conflict with organic and environmental standards; many are simply unscientific. Surprisingly little is known about how E. coli is transmitted from cow to table.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/12/MN0218DVJ8.DTL=rs...
IS THIS YOUR FUTURE OF FOOD?
Japanese 'plant factory' churn out immaculate vegetables
By DAVID DERBYSHIRE
Last updated at 9:56 AM on 03rd June 2009
Comments (57)
They look more like the brightly
lit shelves of a chemists shop than
the rows of a vegetable garden.
But according to their creators,
these perfect looking vegetables could be the future of food.
In a perfectly controlled and totally sterile environment -
uncontaminated by dirt, insects or fresh air -
Japanese scientists are developing
a new way of growing vegetables.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1190392/Is-future-food-Japanes...
What future of food are you choosing now?
These Baby Leafy Greens were
growing in the ground at LA MILPA ORGANICA FARM
the day before they were sold. They had no time
to begin decomposing. The shoppers at the
HILLCREST FARMERS' MARKET are very loyal
to their farmers, and the farmers in many cases
know by name the shoppers. A lot of food
is left over at the end of each FM. Is it
food with your name on it? This is
Real Food, Therapeutic quality food,
the kind of food Hippocrates intended
when he said, Let Food Be Thy Medicine.
IS LOCAL FRESH FOOD,
cut that morning or the
day before and Sold
AT THE FARMERS' MARKET
POTENTIALLY SAFER than
PROCESSES FRESH FRUITS
AND VEGETABLES that are
many days old?
I have worked many years with JOE RODRIGUEZ JR
of JR ORGANICS. Today, he sells primarily at the Farmers' Markets
in San Diego. He no longer ships food around the country
as he once did. His strawberries are picked at the peak of
ripeness that morning and they are fragrant and fresh.
He also grows and sells many lettuces.
He would tell me that in year's past, he was part of the warehouse
system. He would sell his lettuce to a warehouse, The food would travel
more than 100 miles to Los Angeles, Then, the food would enter
their system and travel back to San Diego. Then it would get to the
Whole Foods Store where it was sold, about four days after picking
or more.
The lettuce he picks and sells at the Farmers Market is picked
the day before and sold the next day. Four day old lettuce, if unsold,
would generally be on the compost pile by that time.
Joe and others in San Diego I work with now are part of
the CSA--COMMUNITY SUPPORTED AGRICULTURE SYSTEM-
Here are two Links for CSA's I support.
JR ORGANICS CSA
http://www.jrorganicsfarm.com/csa.php
SAGE MOUNTAIN and INLAND EMPIRE CSA
http://inlandempirecsa.com/
KNOW YOUR GROWER.
Grow some of your own Food.
Be on a first name basis with the farmer
Growing the rest of your food.
sez KEEP The BEET Media Star
The World's First Talking Beet Plant
BEET KEEPERS UNITE
http://curezone.com/blogs/fm.asp?i=1209704
MAKAKI OBADO is one of millions of gardeners growing food
in their own backyard. These photos were taking at a FOOD NOT
LAWNS potluck July 21, 09 in San Diego.
GARDENING FOR FOOD SAFETY
Michelle Obama Puts Green Issues on the Kitchen Table
Apr 25th, 2009 | By Rebecca |
WASHINGTON // When Michelle Obama recently made news for breaking ground on the first White House vegetable garden in 60 years, she was in good company.
About 43 million American households plan to grow their own vegetables this year, a near 20 per cent rise over last year, according to the National Gardening Association (NGA), and seed companies are reporting unprecedented sales.
“There seems to be a movement in our country in the direction of either shopping for locally grown vegetables or growing your own vegetables and produce,” said Rick Burns, a lawyer, who will be among seven million new home gardeners this year in the United States.
Alisa Keimel, of Johnny’s Selected Seeds, said home gardening started gaining popularity several years ago but got a boost when fuel prices shot up and more people spent their holidays at home in what has been dubbed “staycations”. Now the price of oil has fallen, but the number of gardens keeps growing.
Johnny’s seed sales to home gardens are up 50 per cent this year and the company’s total sales – to home and commercial gardeners – are up 30 per cent, Ms Keimel said. “Food prices have been steadily climbing, and when you add on top of that the fuel crunch … it pinches people,” she said.
Most American gardeners – 58 per cent – say they grow their own vegetables because they want better-tasting food, according to the NGA survey, and 54 per cent say they want to save money on groceries. Charlie Nardozzi, the group’s senior horticulturalist, said households and neighbourhoods are also gardening to reduce their contribution to global warming and to be connected to their communities.
“It’s not just an economics-based trend,” Mr Nardozzi said. “I think it’s really something that’s a little bit deeper than that. There are a lot of other factors, too.”
Food safety is another factor for 48 per cent of gardening households, according to the NGA survey, and this is also something Ms Keimel says she has seen: “We’ve had three major scares of salmonella recently,” she said, referring to the produce-borne bacterium that can prove fatal. “The best way to make sure you’re getting safe food is to know what you’re growing.”
Mr Nardozzi noted that the average garden size is falling, as more people in cities and suburbs are growing in whatever space they have. About 57 per cent of US home and community gardens last year were 9.3 square metres or smaller, according to the survey.
http://rebeccacarroll.net/2009/04/25/michelle-obama-puts-green-issues-on-the-...
ON THE FDA--#HR 2749 will
give the FDA more Regulatory
powers. Are you in favor of this?
(Tongue in Cheek humor....from Leslie)
KIDS playing in the field--LA MILPA ORGANICA FARM
July 18, 2009. These kids, are all older than five years old,
so there is no problem here. IF we do nothing, #HR 2749
The Food Safety Enhancement Act 2009, will likely pass congress,
creating an opening for many new FDA agents. One of their
jobs, according to the proposed GREEN LEAFY GUIDELINES
submitted to the USDA June 8, would be to pass a regulation
that children under five--diaper concerns--be kept out of the field.
Enforcing these regulations should create a lot of new opportunities
to bring FDA agents to the farm and farmers' market where
we can all become friends. President Obama Food Safety
Working Group has its eye on Leafy Greens, and mentioned
them in its initial findings June 9, The issue of kids in the field
was brought up in the article by Carolyn Lochhead.
Crops, ponds destroyed in quest for food safety.
I am very concerned
that the mindset in Washington is learning toward sterility
on the farm. A massive education program is needed more
for the FDA and legislators.
THE POSITION OF THE CALIFORNIA
ASSOCIATION OF FAMILY FARMERS
as of last updated June 4, 2009
http://www.caff.org/policy/foodsafetyfederal.shtml
POLICY: Food Safety
The Issue
Leafy Greens
Federal Food Safety News and Legislation (last updated June 4, 2009)
Recent food-related illnesses and deaths from processed peanuts, Mexican chiles, Chinese pet food ingredients, fresh-cut leafy greens, and an upsurge in contamination of meat has led to a renewed effort to reform food safety laws and agencies in Washington DC.
The legislative effort in 2009 is centered in the House of Representatives’ Energy and Commerce Committee, chaired by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Los Angeles). The Committee has posted a draft bill and as well as a summary of the bill.
CAFF is not happy with the inclusion of explicit authority for the FDA to promulgate mandatory on-farm food safety practices for fruits and vegetables. There is a tendency in such regulations to create “one-size-fits-all” metrics that in fact are inappropriate for most farmers who do not grow large tracts of individual crops. And we believe that the FDA’s own data show that whole raw commodities are not what is making people ill, rather it is processed products, such as the fresh-cut leafy greens in plastic bags.
Family farmers have a lot to fear from the FDA and the state health agencies bringing a “sterile” attitude to farms. We have written up what happened in the California sprouts industry after the FDA decided that all sprouts were dangerous.
Glide Ranch Mailing Address: PO Box 363, Davis, CA 95617
Physical Address: 36355 Russell Blvd., Davis, CA 95617
Telephone: (530) 756-8518; Fax: (530) 756-7857
GROWING STANDARDS in HR 2749
9
http://www.ftcldf.org/news/news-15june2009.htm
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].
FDA ON FOOD PROCESSION
from their site
http://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/GuidanceDocum...
Processing fresh produce into fresh-cut products increases the risk of bacterial growth and contamination by breaking the natural exterior barrier of the produce (Ref. 6).The release of plant cellular fluids when produce is chopped or shredded provides a nutritive medium in which pathogens, if present, can survive or grow (Ref. 6). Thus, if pathogens are present when the surface integrity of the fruit or vegetable is broken, pathogen growth can occur and contamination may spread. The processing of fresh produce without proper sanitation procedures in the processing environment increases the potential for contamination by pathogens (see Appendix B, "Foodborne Pathogens Associated with Fresh Fruits and Vegetables."). In addition, the degree of handling and product mixing common to many fresh-cut processing operations can provide opportunities for contamination and for spreading contamination through a large volume of product.
HERE are some VIDEOS
on the FDA
ADVERSE REACTIONS is the title of part one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWns15Y5TdI
Part one says that the enforcement agency
has not had the money to do its own science.
The pharmaceutical industry for the most part
pays for and gives them the results of their findings.
Then they enforce these rules. The FDA does
leans toward this kind of science. They have not
yet been sufficiently educated to the value
of natural medicines in my opinion.
GETTING TO KNOW MICHAEL TAYLOR
THE NEW FOOD CZAR AT THE FDA
Former Monsanto VP named FDA advisor
July 16,2009
By: Angela Cortez
Printer Friendly Version Email A Friend
Michael Taylor, a former vice president of public policy at Monsanto Company, is the new senior advisor for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. He will advise Margaret A. Hamburg, commissioner of food and drugs.
Taylor joined the FDA earlier this month. He will oversee planning and implementation of food safety reform at FDA, said George Strait, assistant commissioner of public affairs for the administration. The hiring marks a return to the FDA for Taylor, who worked for the FDA from 1976 to 1981 as a staff lawyer and executive assistant, and again from 1991 to 1994 as deputy commissioner for policy. Taylor also served as the administrator for U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service from 1994 to 1996.
"He was selected because of his great expertise and experience in food safety issues," Strait said. "He will be reporting directly to the commissioner as her special assistant on all food and food safety. It is a new position, created because the commissioner sees food safety as one of her highest priorities."
But some activists see Taylor's hiring as trouble.
"We're not happy to hear the news of Michael Taylor getting the (job), not only because of his well-known GMO revolving door issues that don't please us at all, but also, we have some differences of opinion in terms of government and food inspection," said Patty Lovera of Food & Water Watch, a nonprofit consumer organization.
After leaving the FDA the first time in 1981, Taylor led the food and drug law practice at King & Spalding, a Washington law firm that represented Monsanto. After leaving the USDA in 1996, he returned to that firm. Then, from October 1998 to January 2000, Taylor was vice president for public policy at Monsanto, the makers of Roundup herbicide and developers of genetically-engineered crops.
But the "revolving door" issue could
http://naturalfoodsmerchandiser.com/tabId/119/itemId/3992/Former-Monsanto-VP-...
KEY FINDINGS OF PRESIDENT OBAMA's
WORKING GROUP ON FOOD SAFETY
KEY FINDINGS OF WORKING GROUP
http://www.foodsafetyworkinggroup.gov/ContentKeyFindings/HomeKeyFindings.htm
Preventing Contamination of Leafy Greens, Melons, and Tomatoes: By the end of July, FDA will issue commodity-specific draft guidance on preventive controls that industry can implement to reduce the risk of microbial contamination in the production and distribution of tomatoes, melons, and leafy greens. These proposals will help the Federal government establish a minimum standard for production across the country. Over the next two years, FDA will seek public comment and work to require adoption of these approaches through regulation.
National Traceback and Response System
http://www.southernstates.com/sscinfo/news/0709vpbiden.jsp
"There isn't a single American that isn't impacted by our efforts to protect the food supply," said Secretary Vilsack. "We owe it to the American people to deliver on President Obama's bold promise to greatly enhance our food safety system, moving our approach into the 21st century, employing the best surveillance techniques available, and ensuring that we are doing all we can to prevent illness before it occurs."
Today, the Working Group announced specific steps designed to advance its core principles:
HHS and USDA are targeting salmonella contamination by developing tougher standards to protect the safety of eggs, poultry, and turkey.
To fight the threat of E. coli, USDA is stepping up enforcement in beef facilities and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is developing new industry guidance improving protections for
(LEAFY GREENS, melons, and tomatoes.
ORGANIC FARMER TESTIMONY
at AG COMMITTEE HEARING JULY 16
SLOW DOWN THE PASSAGE RECOMMENDED
"What concerns me most about this bill is that it could be perilously close to making our Nation’s food safety more difficult to achieve in the long run. While the Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009 will have some positive impacts on the safety of our Nation’s food supply, it will also have some unintended consequences. In my opinion as a farmer, this legislation needs more refinement before going forward. I do not make this statement lightly or out of self-interest, but out of deep concern for the ultimate safety and security of our country’s food supply."
QUOTE FROM
NICK MARIVELL
of NICK’s ORGANIC FARM
Maryland
at the AGRICULTURAL COMMITTEE
JULY 16, 2009
WHERE DOES THIS BILL STAND NOW
as of JULY 17:
REP GOODLATTE
QUESTIONS GIVING FDA
more authority.
Asks to improve the
legislation.
PRESS RELEASE, JULY 17
from the AGRICULTURE COMMITTEE
of THE HOUSE
"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
ALL TESTIMONY PRESENTED JULY 16
can be found here
http://agriculture.house.gov/hearings/statements.html
BETH OF TIERRA MIQUEL BIODYNAMIC FARM
WINS AWARD
Local Sustainability Savant Receives National Accolade from SELF Magazine
http://www.examiner.com/x-7288-San-Diego-Sustainable-Food-Examiner~y2009m7d20...
Article by BROOK LARIOS
According to the San Diego Farm Bureau, San Diego County has more small farms (under 10 acres) than any county in the United States – between 5,000 and 6,000 in fact, said Kathy Rathbun, Program Coordinator for the Bureau. The 2007 Crop Report, a biennial account of the county’s agricultural production compiled by the county’s Department of Agriculture, Weights & Measures, shows that San Diego leads the nation in production of avocados and nursery crops as well as in the number of part-time farmers it employs, and it ranks second in the production of guavas, pomegranates, limes, macadamia nuts and, interestingly, in the number of farms with women as principle owner. Counted among them, Levendoski is a leader in raising awareness of the importance of local farms, with support from widely recognized organizations like Kashi, a primary sponsor of the foundation, and The Kellogg Foundation, which supports one of the farm’s initiatives.
“The reason we began doing this work is because we understood that the nutritional value of produce and the biochemical background – the seed quality – was degenerating, and…we were interested in [bringing] awareness that there are practices to increase soil vitality…to increase the value of food,” Levendoski said. “[Early on], really, nobody cared [about the] quality and nutritional value [of food]. We observed that people were disconnected to food – unconcerned.”
While change is slow, over the last ten years Tierra Miguel’s programs may have contributed to the public’s interest in eating organic and locally sourced foods.
“We have been running programs to reconnect, particularly children, to their food, because we thought that children would be the most likely population to take it in,” she said. “Children are the best group as open books and vehicles for information.”
Children are also good barometers of quality. If they don’t like the taste of something, they won’t eat it, and fruits and vegetables grown in unhealthy soil are essentially bland. One of Tierra Miguel’s educational programs teaches children about the full cycle of food from seed to table. They learn about worm composting, planting seeds, caring for crops and they pick their produce, wash it and eat it fresh from the farm.
According to Levendoski, the nation’s obesity epidemic can be attributed, in part, to the fact that many adults and children are not exposed to wholesome, flavorful fruits and vegetables, which come from healthy soil. The overuse of chemical fertilizers without the practice of increasing organic material is one perpetrator in tasteless foods. Much of the produce sold in supermarkets is sourced from the arid San Joaquin Valley, one of the largest agricultural regions in the state, which Levendoski says a person need only drive through to detect the soil’s unhealthiness.
Q and A from the
FARM TO CONSUMERS
LEGAL DEFENSE FUND
http://www.farmtoconsumer.org/news/news-HR2749-FAQ.htm
To ask questions about #HR2749,
you are invited to call
Anyone with additional questions is encouraged to contact the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund directly by calling 703-208-3276 or emailing info@farmtoconsumer.org
WHAT KIND OF ACTION DO YOU NEED
TO TAKE NOW???
HERE IS A TIMELINE FROM
JILL RICHARSON.
Jill has just published a great new book
on the Food System and how to fix it
http://food.change.org/blog/view/food_safety_bill_in_the_house
PETITIONS OF NOTE
PLEASE MAKE YOUR INTENTIONS
KNOWN
You can reach your reps
through this petition.
I have been writing about this for two weeks.
There are numbers of other petitions out there,
pro and con.
Please look at my other blogs
for more information.
ACTION PAGE:
This site allows you to write your own
comment to your representatives.
Once you put in your contact info,
it brings up your reps as well as
newspapers in your area and how
to reach them.
FROM THE PETITION
of THE FARM TO CONSUMER
LEGAL DEFENSE FUND
Ask Congress to Defeat HR 2749
9,554 Submissions so far
111th U.S. Congress - House Bill HR 2749 [Click here for FAQs]
A new food safety bill is on the fast track in Congress--HR 2749, the Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009. The bill needs to be stopped!
HR 2749 gives FDA tremendous power while significantly diminishing existing judicial restraints on actions taken by the agency. The bill would impose a one-size-fits-all regulatory scheme on small farms and local artisanal producers; and it would disproportionately impact their operations for the worse.
HR 2749 does not address underlying causes of food safety problems such as industrial agriculture practices and the consolidation of our food supply. The industrial food system and food imports are badly in need of effective regulation, but the HR 2749 does not specifically direct regulation or resources to these areas.
http://www.ftcldf.org/petitions/pnum993.php
PETITION OF THE
WESTERN ORGANIZATION
of RESOURCE COUNCILS
LOTS OF INFORMATION
ABOUT #HR2749
http://curezone.com/upload/Blogs/Your_Enchanted_Gardener/Food_Safety_Act2.pdf
WORC ADVISES:
Contact your Congressman or Senator
and tell them your concerns about pending food safety
legislation!
Visit WORC’s website for more information or
call Margie MacDonald, WORC’s Regional
Organizer, at 406.252.9672 or mmacdonald@worc.org.
http://www.worc.org
http://www.worc.org/local-foods/
QUESTIONS FOR THE FDA
on FOOD
cfsanweb@fda.hhs.gov
http://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/GuidanceDocum...
PHONE NUMBERS OF MEMBERS
of the HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
AGRICULTURE COMMITTEE
THE LIST OF PHONES OF MEMBERS OF
THE AGRICULTURAL COMMITTEE
CAN BE FOUND HERE
http://www.thefutureisorganic.net/FoodSafetyAction.htm
QUESTIONS SUGGESTED
by the
THE NATIONAL ORGANIC COALITION
http://www.nationalorganiccoalition.org/
before the hearing July 16
before the HOUSE AGRICULTURAL COMMITTEE
MESSAGE:
It's easy to call. If your Congressperson is on the House Agriculture Committee (see list below), please call their office and ask to speak with the aide that works on agriculture (or send them a fax). Urge the Member to raise the following questions with the food safety hearing panelists on July 16:
1) Why are all food "facilities" under the proposed new law, even those that gross well under $500,000 annually, subject to the same registration fee of $500 each year? Isn't this a regressive tax that disproportionately impacts smaller producers? Why would a small processor have to pay the same annual fee as the largest facilities in our food system?
2) If left as is, provisions in the HR 2749 bill could encourage farmers to tear out important wildlife habitat and buffer strips that protect streams and rivers in an effort to try to create a "sterile" on-farm environment free of bacteria. What do you know about this? Can't we harmonize the safety of our food supply with environmental protection?
3) I'm concerned that organic producers who already have to comply with food safety standards outlined in the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 will be burdened by another set of separate standards if HR 2749 becomes law. What can be done to ensure we are not creating a disincentive for farmers to transition to organic?
4) Farmers that sell directly to consumers or who use marketing strategies that preserve the identity of their farm products pose less of a food safety risk because their products are easily traced back to their farm. Should there be a comprehensive exemption for these kinds of farms in HR 2749?
Background
On June 17, the House Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously approved a manager's amendment to the Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009. While the bill did incorporate some changes proposed by the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition and National Organic Coalition, HR 2749 retains a flat $500 registration fee per facility, thus failing to incorporate a scaled fee system. This means that a small processor (even on-farm if selling mostly wholesale) would pay the same annual fee as a facility run by Tyson, ADM, or any other large food manufacturer. In addition, the bill does not specify the positive role that conservation practices can play to address food safety concerns, and also fails to provide guidance so that new food safety standards are harmonized with those specified in the Organic Foods Production Act.
The bill has not yet been scheduled to go to the floor of the House, but it is expected to do so sometime the week of July 20 or 27.
FROM RUSSELL LIBBY
RUSSELL LIBBY of the
MAIN ORGANIC FARMING and GARDENING
ASSOCIATION has been working with
members of the ENERGY AND COMMERCE
COMMISSION. I talked to him July
20.
Here are some of his LEGISLATIVE TIPS
RE: FOOD SAFETY ISSUES
http://www.nationalorganiccoalition.org/MOFGAFoodSafety0430092-col.pdf
in this article, Libby suggests there is more
to be looked at than just microbes.
How about pesticides and food contaminated
by chemicals?
A number of his amendments have been adopted.
The members of the committee ask good questions.
They simple have not been exposed to organic sustainable
food growing techniques. Its a process of education,
as it is with all of us.
OTHER LINKS for BEGINNERS
and OTHER PLANT YOUR DREAM BLOGS
on THIS:
http://curezone.com/blogs/fm.asp?i=1457048
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