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Congress Sends Food Safety Bill to President’s Desk
December 21st, 2010
http://sustainableagriculture.net/blog/house-passes-food-safety-act/

On December 21, 2010, the House of Representatives voted 215-144 to pass the 
Senate version of the Food Safety Modernization Act, with the Tester-Hagan 
amendment protecting small farms intact.  This final vote by the House ends 
weeks of procedural wrangling, and sends the bill to the President’s desk for 
enactment.

As we reported in a previous blog post, the food safety bill hit a roadblock 
after passing the Senate in late November because a provision requiring the 
collection of user fees violated the Constitutional mandate that all 
revenue-generating measures must originate in the House.  House leaders then 
attached the bill as an amendment to two separate spending bills, neither of 
which were able to gain sufficient support.

Then, on Sunday, December 19, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) 
circumvented the original technical mistake by attaching the bill to a 
House-originated measure (HR 2751) authorizing a cash-for-clunkers program – 
a “shell bill” with bipartisan support.  The Senate approved this shell bill 
by voice vote.  The final bill passed today by the House mirrors the bill 
passed three weeks ago by the Senate.

It includes six NSAC-supported amendments championed by:

    * Senators Jon Tester (D-MT) and Kay Hagan (D-NC) to give very small 
farms and food processing facilities as well as direct-market farms who sell 
locally the option of complying with state regulation or with modified, 
scale-appropriate federal regulation.
    * Senator Sanders (I-VT) providing FDA authority to either exempt farms 
engaged in low or no risk processing or co-mingling activities from new 
regulatory requirements or to modify particular regulatory requirements for 
such farming operations.
    * Senator Bennet (D-CO) to reduce unnecessary paperwork and excess 
regulation required under the preventative control plan and the produce 
standards sections of the bill, including instructions to FDA to minimize the 
number of different standards that apply to separate foods, to make 
requirements scale appropriate, and to prohibit FDA from requiring farms and 
other food facilities to hire outside consultants to write food safety plans.
    * Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) to provide for a USDA-delivered 
competitive grants program for food safety training for farmers, small 
processors and wholesalers, with a priority on small and mid-scale farms.
    * Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) to strip the bill of wildlife-threatening 
enforcement against “animal encroachment” of farms and require FDA to apply 
sound science to any requirements that might impact wildlife and wildlife 
habitat.
    * Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) to exempt farmers from extensive and 
expensive traceability and recordkeeping  requirements  if they sell food 
directly to consumers or to grocery stores, to allow labeling that preserves 
the identity of the farm through to the consumer to satisfy traceability 
requirements, and to in most cases limit farm recordkeeping to the first 
point of sale when the product leaves the farm.

NSAC has been a primary player in negotiations over the content of the Food 
Safety Modernization Act for more than a year.  We regard passage of this 
bill as a great accomplishment, as it will help promote food safety with 
scale-appropriate standards.