I'm forwarding this email from another list. Just heard about it this
morning. The bulk of the info is below in the original email, but if
anyone wants to do more reading, check out:
I've seen enough legislation come and go with great hoopla and gnashing of
teeth, only to end up either dying in subcommittee or not turning out to be the
doomsday that everyone was worried about. A few, however, have been worthy
of careful study and action. I think S510 might be one of the
latter.
Kathryn Kerby
Frog Chorus Farm
Snohomish, WA
From: brandon_friemel AT yahoo.com Reply-to:
barrelponics AT yahoogroups.com To: barrelponics AT yahoogroups.com Sent:
3/15/2010 7:41:39 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time Subj: Re: [barrelponics] Will
this affect the use of barrelponics raised produce in
Hey everyone,
Just came back from a local Market
Growers Symposium. During the symposium we were updated on the
status of several pieces of legislation. The Farm and Ranch Freedom
Alliance based out of Cameron, Texas presented the material. I would suggest
everyone check them out, and support them if possible. Currently the US Senate
is considering a bill, S.510, to reform the food safety system. Although
reform of the industrial food supply is clearly needed, this bill
threatens to create more problems than it will solve. S.510 would
undermine the rapidly growing local foods movement by imposing unnecessary,
burdensome regulations on small farms and food processors-everyone from your
local CSA to the small bakers, jam makers, and people making
fermented vegetables to sell at the local farmer's market.
This bill is going to the floor for a vote sometime in April or May,
so everyone needs to contact their local Senators and let them know that this
bill undermines small farms and food processors, another sector of SMALL
BUSINESS in this country that doesn't need any futher regulation. SMALL
BUSINESS is the backbone of this country, and we must fight to keep SMALL
BUSINESS thriving, especially in these economic times.
Call your
Senators and tell them to EXEMPT farmers selling directly to consumers and
small-scale processors from all of the provisions of the food safety bill,
S.510. For contact information, visit www.congress.org or call the
switchboard: 202-224-3121.
Below is the information from the flyer
we were given. This is a little long, but very good information the group
needs to be informed on.
FDA Regulation of Local Food Processors
Is Unnecessary and Burdensome
Federal regs may be needed for
industrial processing that source raw ingredients from mult. locations
(sometimes imported from other countries) and ship their products across the
country. But federal regulation is overkill for small local processors.
State and local publich health laws are enough for local food sources.
HACCP Will NOT Improve Food Safety and Will Harm Small
Processors
S.510 applies a complex and burdensome Hazard Analysis and
Critical Control Point (HACCP) system to even the smallest local food
processors. The HACCP system, with its requirements to develop and
maintain extensive records, has proven to be an overwhelming burden for a
significant number of small regional meat processors across the country. In
the meat industry, HACCP has not eliminated the spread of E-coli and other
pathogens and has resulted in fewer independent inspections of the large
slaughter plants where these pathogens originate. At the same time, small
regional processors have been subject to sanctions due to paperwork violations
that posed no health threat. Applying a HACCP system to small, local
foods processors could drive them out of business, reducing consumers'
options to buy fresh, local foods.
S.510 Puts FDA On The Farm
S.510 calls for FDA regulation of how farms grow and harvest
produce. Given the agency's track record, it is likely that the regulations
will discriminate against small, organic, and diversified farms. The bill
directs FDA to consider the impact of its rulemaking on small-scale and
diversified farms, but there are no enforceable limits or protections for
small diversified and organic farms from inappropriate and burdensome federal
rules.
What the House Has Done
On July 30, the US House
passed its version of a food safety bill, H.R. 279:
The Good:
The House added a definition for "retail food establishments" that
allows for some cottage level processing without invoking FDA regulation.
Over 50% of the product must be sold at retail to qualify. The amendments also
inserted some expemptions in the registration and record-keeping sections of
the bill for farmers selling direct to consumers.
The
Bad: HR 2749 continues to direct FDA to set standards for how
farmers grow and harvest some types of procude, such as leafy greens, even
for small farmers selling directly to consumers. The Ugly:
HR 2749 puts local facilities processing local foods for local markets under
the same regulatory regime, and paying the same fees, as the major
industrialized agribusinesses, like Dole or Del Monte. The focus
is now on the Senate. The major foodborne illness outbreaks and recalls have
all been within the large, industrial food system. Small, local food producers
have not contributed to the highly publicized outbreaks. Yet both the House
and Senate bills subject the small, local food system to broad federal
regulatory oversight. Increased regulations, record-keeping obligations, and
the penalities and fees could destroy small businesses bringing food to local
communities. Take action today to protect local food producers, promote food
safety, and help your local economy! If anyone has any further
questions please contact Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance at (866) 687-6452
(toll free) or at
info AT farmandranchfreedom.org Brandon "For since the
creation of the world God's invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine
nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so
that men are without excuse." --The apostle Paul
________________________________ From:
"kakerby AT aol.com" <kakerby AT aol.com> To:
barrelponics AT yahoogroups.com Sent: Sun, March 14, 2010 12:35:39
AM Subject: Re: [barrelponics] Will this affect the use of barrelponics
raised produce in
We may just decide to agree to disagree on
this point, but here goes:
I still do not think the GAP stuff is a
"Monsanto issue", for some very specific reasons. First, Monsanto did not
invent the problems - E coli, salmonella, campylobacter, lysteria, or any
of the rest of the disease organisms we're talking about here. Second,
they did not invent the "solutions", namely, that growers need to tighten
up their procedures. The buying public did that, through a variety of
related issues such as the growing chasm of understanding between urban
and rural living, the growing gap between raising and eating food, the
growing educational gaps in mathematics and life sciences, and the
increasing philosophy of "if I burn myself, I'm going to blame that other
guy". Third, Monsanto did not come up with or have any direct or indirect
benefit from the mechanisms of the solution. Monsanto did not develop the
composting protocols. They did not develop the recommended distance
between crops and livestock yards. They did not patent the suggestion to
wash hands after using the bathroom (which remains to this day the #1
method of E coli contamination) . Nor did they develop the alternative
irrigation solutions which are both reducing disease transmission and
saving a heckuva lot of water. And finally, Monsanto would be the last to
benefit if every grower in the country adopted these standards and put out
cleaner produce. If anything, Monsanto should be the first entity in line
to make sure we don't adopt these standards, because the more competitive
we are, the less stuff Monsanto can sell.
I am not a fan of
Monsanto (or Du Pont or Syngenta or any of the rest). I won't buy their
products, I don't recognize their claim on various forms of life, and I am
very actively working to build a future which does not need them, does not
want them and does not have room for them. So, hopefully having
established the idea that I'm not a Monsanto person, I believe that if we
pile up all the world's problems and put them in a big box labeled
"Monsanto's Fault" and try to put the blame on them for everything, we are
fundamentally avoiding the real work of #1 identifying the true issue, #2
working out some reasonable solutions for a majority of growers, and #3
spending our energies where they will do us the most good. Sure we can
slam Monsanto for everything if we really want to. That's very stylish
right now. But will it accomplish anything practical? No, it won't. Are
there issues out there that Monsanto has nothing to do with? Yep. Do I
need to do my homework every single time each of these issues comes up, so
I can best arm myself with the responses most likely to achieve my
small-scale sustainable farming goals? Youbetcha. So, if you'd like to
continue to call this some vein of the grand "Monsanto Issue", I guess
that's OK. But it won't help anyone accomplish anything useful.
Kathryn Kerby Frog Chorus Farm Snohomish, WA
In a message
dated 3/13/2010 1:24:44 P.M. Pacific Standard Time, pernkat@ritternet. com
writes:
Perhaps you don't know what the Monsanto issue really is.
Monsanto is busy putting patents on every type of plant and seed that
it is able to. They have done so in Iraq after we went in and are doing so
other places. The Monsanto issue is that they intend to find a way to
control the food population for the entire world. They in no way are
limiting their fight to just GMO and cloned foods. Yes, this is another
attempt to slip past those watching and fighting against them so that they
can increase their control. Now, Monsanto is not the only large
agri-industry in this group but their name has been given to the whole
group.
Pernkat
-----Original Message----- From: barrelponics@
yahoogroups. com [mailto:barrelponics@ yahoogroups. com] On Behalf Of
kakerby@aol. com Sent: Saturday, March 13, 2010 11:30 AM To:
barrelponics@ yahoogroups. com Subject: Re: [barrelponics] Will this affect
the use of barrelponics raised produce in
"The monsanto issue"? Um,
no. I would have to say that is too simplistic an answer and implies
that it only impacts folks using GMO and/or synthetics, which is not the
case. Lots, lots more going on here than that
sentence would
imply. Kathryn Kerby Frog Chorus Farm Snohomish, WA
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