permaculture

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <venaurafarm@bellsouth.net>]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject:        [local-foods-action-plan] FW: Food safety bill worries farmers
Date:   Sun, 30 May 2010 11:35:12 -0400
From:   Jim Cummings <JCummings8@nc.rr.com>
Reply-To:       Jim Cummings <JCummings8@nc.rr.com>
To:     <local-foods-action-plan@lists.ncsu.edu>

  *Food safety bill worries farmers*

By James Shea <mailto:james.shea@blueridgenow.com>
Times-News Staff Writer

Published: Sunday, May 30, 2010 at 4:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Saturday, May 29, 2010 at 10:30 p.m.

( page all of 5 )

The recent outbreaks of contaminated peanuts, spinach and salsa have
"poured gasoline on the discussion" over food safety legislation.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a food safety bill last summer,
and the U.S. Senate is expected to take up a different version soon.

"The incidents from contaminated fruits and vegetables (are) on the
rise," said Debbie Hamrick, director of speciality crops for the N.C.
Farm Bureau Federation.

"There has been debate about why this is happening."

The proposed legislation has raised eyebrows among small farmers in
North Carolina. They argue many of the measures in the food safety
legislation are too burdensome for small farmers and not applicable to
their operations.

"The food safety legislation would be more of a financial burden," said
Western North Carolina vegetable farmer Tom Elmore, who owns Thatchmore
Farms. "The goal is to solve problems that don't exist, at least not
here on my farm."

In response, farmers and advocacy groups are working with congressional
representatives, including U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan and U.S. Sen. Richard
Burr, to craft a compromise.


      *FDA has authority*

In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration has historically
regulated manufactured food. The FDA requires sanitation standards and
careful documentation of the manufacturing process, so food is safe for
the public to consume.

The FDA has always had the authority to regulate on-farm practices but
has chosen not to exercise that authority. About a decade ago, the FDA
started to implement guidelines for best practices on farms but stopped
short of regulating the activity.

The House version of the food safety legislation mandates the FDA
exercise its authority and implement on-farm practices.

While the discussion is taking place in the Senate, the FDA is
conducting hearings and implementing administrative rules within the
agency to regulate farming in the United States.

"You are seeing two fronts that are moving together," said Diane
Ducharme, an extension associate in horticulture and food safety at N.C.
State University. "You did not see that with the House bill. You are
seeing something happen within the legislative process that has never
happened before because the safety of our food is so important, and you
had these outbreaks nationwide."

The FDA has held public meetings with large and small producers around
the country, trying to understand the industry's concerns.

"We've learned a lot from these listening sessions," FDA Deputy
Commissioner for Foods Mike Taylor said in an April speech. "We've
learned that we really need to take account of that diversity across the
food system. We do need to have our rules be risk-based in the sense
that we need to target efforts and activities that really will make a
practical difference for food safety."

The FDA's role in food safety regulations has created consternation
among some in the agriculture community. The U.S. Department of
Agriculture has historically controlled farming in the United States,
and some argue that regulating agriculture is not the same as regulating
food manufacturing.

For example, one of the rules the FDA proposes is to keep wild animals
off the farm. The goal is to eliminate animal waste from contaminating
the food. But many believe implementing the regulation would be nearly
impossible, and the science of contamination is not fully understood.
Farmers have used manure as a fertilizer for centuries and were never
concerned about contaminating their crops.

"Keeping animals out is unfortunately not grounded in science," North
Carolina Farm Stewardship Association Executive Director Roland
McReynolds said. "We don't know how pathogens get from the soil to the
plants."

Also, the FDA requires food manufacturers to document their entire
operation and follow required practices. Machines must be cleaned on a
regular basis, workers must wear sanitary clothing and food must be
tested for contamination.

Farmers say that is an unfair burden. A small family farm with only a
couple employees does not have the resources to document everything like
a large corporate farm. They follow safe practices, and the evidence is
when the public trusts them to grow their food locally.

"We test the quality of our food continually -- we eat it," Elmore said.
"We test our irrigation water -- we drink it."

Hagan has co-sponsored an amendment to exempt some small farms from the
regulations in the Senate version of the food safety bill. The amendment
is sponsored by Sen. John Tester, an organic farmer from Montana.

"We need a robust prevention and response system to handle outbreaks of
foodborne illnesses," Hagan said. "But we have many hardworking small
producers and family farms in North Carolina, and it is unnecessary for
these producers to be saddled with new regulations and paperwork."

The Tester amendment would exempt farms with less than $500,000 in
annual income from some of the paperwork requirements. Also, farms that
sell more than half of their product directly to the public through
farmers markets or to restaurants would be exempt from some of the
regulations. "In North Carolina, a lot of the farmers sell right into
the local area," Hamrick said.

Many large producers, like apple farmers in Henderson County, have
already implemented many of the regulations in the proposed legislation.

Large wholesalers have required them to implement best agricultural
practices before a contract is signed in the fall.

"The large organic and the (commercial) fruit and vegetable growers sell
through national channels and are already regulated," McReynolds said.

Burr, who is co-sponsor of the full Senate bill, also supports talking
with the small farmers in North Carolina and finding a solution. He
wants food safety legislation passed but does not want North Carolina's
small farms forced out of business.

"Sen. Burr is working with the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association,
North Carolina's farmers, and other interested groups to improve the
Senate food safety bill," Burr spokesman David Ward said. "This includes
working to address the concerns of family farms and farmers markets as
we work to improve the safety of our nation's food."

U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler voted against the food safety legislation in the
House. Most producers in his district are small farmers, and he did not
believe the House version instituted adequate protections.

"It is clear that our current food safety system needs an overhaul, but
I do not believe that our small farmers should have to bear the burden
in the process," Shuler said. "This bill would place small family farms
at a disadvantage by placing costly administrative burdens on them, such
as requiring them to register with the FDA and pay an annual
registration fee of $500 per facility. I will continue to work to enact
food safety reform that will protect the small farmers that are so vital
to Western North Carolina."


      *Adding indemnity*

Hamrick wants to see some form of indemnity added to the food safety
legislation. In 2008, the FDA alerted the public to a potential
salmonella outbreak in tomatoes. Grocery stores pulled tomatoes from
their shelves and restaurants stopped adding tomatoes to meals.

The result was devastating to tomato farmers in Henderson County and
Western North Carolina. The price of tomatoes plummeted and tomato
farmers were left with an unsellable crop, even though the FDA said
North Carolina tomatoes were not suspected in the outbreak.

After researching the outbreak, the FDA determined peppers -- and not
tomatoes -- were responsible for the contamination.

Hamrick said farmers should receive compensation due to the FDA's
mismanagement of the crisis. Livestock farmers can be compensated if an
animal is suspected of having hoof-and-mouth disease and farmers are
forced to put the animal down.

"In Western North Carolina, you had farmers (who) were materially harmed
when the FDA said to stop eating tomatoes except from certain states,"
Hamrick said. "Nobody listened. They stopped eating tomatoes. There was
no recourse."


      *Expected to pass*

Some form of food safety legislation is expected to pass. The Senate was
focused on financial reform in the spring, and that measure passed two
weeks ago.

The Congressional Budget Office is evaluating the cost to implement the
Senate bill, and those numbers are expected shortly after the Memorial
Day break.

One potential snag in the process is bisphenol A, often known as BPA.

The chemical is used to harden plastics and lines the inside of many
aluminum cans. The FDA has raised concerns about the product's safety,
and some senators want a ban on BPA added to food safety legislation.

McReynolds and others say that proposal has caused some senators to be
less supportive of the bill and might create more difficulty crafting
the final piece of legislation.

"There is the possibility that something will pass this summer, and
there is a chance we will get some protection (for small farmers)," he said.