3:49 PM
JUly 30, 09




FINAL VOTE FROM THE HOUSE #2749
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2009/roll680.xml



FARM TO CONSUMER LEGAL DEFENSE FUND
http://www.ftcldf.org/petitions/pnum993.php


more than 13,000 signed a petition against this.


The Legislators did not get the bill to view
before the vote yesterday until that very morning.

Lots of learning inside me from participating in this.

The Legislators took into account
some of the points that the small farmers
had to say. This was good.


10:06 AM
July 30, 09


HERE IS THE FARR_KAPTUR
AMENDMENT

Some of this is in the revised
summary, some not.

This Amendment makes
me feel a bit more positive.

http://files.e2ma.net/13831/assets/docs/food_safety_letter.pdf

THANKS to
MARCY KAPTUR
SAM FARR
EARK BLUMENAUER
PETER WELCH
CHELLIE PINGREE
JESSIE JACKSON
MAURICE HINCHEY




I see a number of good changes
within the last 24 hours.

MY TAKE

Small farms are the cornerstone of healthy food safety.
Growing your own food is the cornerstone of healthy food safety.
Eating junk food and not knowing anything about the source
of the food you are eating as of now Food Safety.
The FDA knows little about farming practices, and their
suport comes from science supported by Big Pharma.



FROM THE
National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition
as of July 30
10:19 AM


With House food-safety bill on the verge of passing, questions remain
http://www.grist.org/article/2009-07-30-house-food-safety-bill-questions-remain/


The small-producer lobby was less successful; the $500 per-facility fee remained in the version voted on Wednsday. In a Wednesday press release, Ferd Hoefner, policy director of the widely respected National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, said that some small-producer concerns had been taken care of in the version voted on Wednesday. In particular, farms that sell directly to consumers would have access to “limited exemptions from traceability and registration requirements” that would be onerous.

But the legislation would stiill place double bookkeeping and traceability requirements on organic growers, who already follow similar procedures from the USDA’s National Organic Program. And even as it gives factory-scale livestock farms a free pass, the bill comes down hard on the wildlife that might—gasp!—trespass on farms. “The bill contains language that experience shows can do serious harm to wildlife and biodiversity, while failing to specify the positive role that conservation practices can play to address food safety concerns,” Hoefner says.

All in all, Hoefner finds the bill wanting. “This bill ultimately had great potential to economically harm family farms as a result of overreaching provisions that do nothing to advance the important cause of food safety,” Hoefner declared.

He added, though, that “simple, common sense amendments” could fix the bill’s flaws and make into a decent new framework for food safety.” The Kaptur-Farr amendment (PDF), for example, has generated wide support in the sustainable-ag community.

http://www.grist.org/article/2009-07-30-house-food-safety-bill-questions-remain/




THE SUMMARY
of HR 2749


http://energycommerce.house.gov/Press_111/20090729/hr2749_sectionsummary.pdf


Food produced on a farm and sold directly to a consumer, restaurant, or grocery store is exempt from the
tracing system requirements, although restaurants and grocery stores must keep records documenting the
farm that was the source of the food. If food is produced through the use of a fishing vessel, the food is
exempt from the requirements of this section until the food is sold by the fishing vessel. Any tracing
system with respect to grains must be limited to enabling the Secretary to identify persons who handled
the grains from the initial warehouse that held the grain to the ultimate consumer. The Secretary is also
granted authority to exempt a food from the tracing system requirements if the Secretary determines
application of these requirements is not necessary to protect the public health. For a food so exempted,
each person who produces, manufactures, processes, packs, transports, or holds such food is required to
maintain records to identify the immediate previous sources of such food and its ingredients and the
immediate subsequent recipients of such food.


 

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