Food Safety Enhancement Act draws ire from farmers

And if Michael "Monsanto" Taylor states their concerns are overblown, then you know there is something to be worried about. The fact that the words "food safety" were used as part of the title of this bill to thwart criticism is a political ploy that is glaringly so obvious. Make no mistake about it, because of this bill small farmers will suffer on some scale while the real culprits (industrial agriculture and factory farms) once again get a free ride.

Excerpt:

Members of a powerful House committee and farmers raised alarms Thursday about a food-safety bill steamrolling through Congress, saying it could hurt small farmers, conflict with organic growing methods and trump efforts to boost wildlife habitat and water and air quality.

Overshadowed by the health care debate on Capitol Hill, the bill is part of a broad effort backed by the Obama administration and consumer groups to tighten food-safety rules after national outbreaks of food-borne illness caused by salmonella, E. coli and other pathogens in cookie dough, peanuts, produce and beef.

The Food Safety Enhancement Act by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Los Angeles, would give the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate all farms. It has provoked uproar among small farmers.

"There's been a battle cry in North Carolina, that the FDA is coming onto the farm," said Rep. Mike McIntyre, D-N.C.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture oversees most farms, but regulates only meat, poultry and egg safety. FDA oversees other food but generally has not extended its reach to farms.

The legislation divides large and small growers in California, where most of the nation's fresh produce is grown.

Drew McDonald, head of quality systems for Taylor Farms in Salinas, the world's largest salad processor, said he favors FDA regulation as a way to fight the proliferation of private, often unscientific, food safety rules imposed by large buyers.

Farmers around Monterey Bay say that many of the rules, which are kept secret, have forced them to poison wildlife, destroy habitat and remove vegetative buffers that naturally filter pollutants and pathogens.

A Chronicle report Monday on environmental damage in the Salinas Valley caused by the rules was cited in testimony at Thursday's Agriculture Committee hearing.

Large growers have devised a Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement based on the best available science to try to thwart the private rules, but progress in getting large buyers to accept them has been slow.

Small growers say they are not the source of the problem, which is confined almost entirely to mass-processed food, including bagged greens intended as a convenience to consumers.

Organic growers fear food-safety rules that could mandate production techniques banned in organic agriculture or duplicate rules they already follow.

Nicolas Maravell, a small organic farmer in Maryland, said the ancient practice of raising livestock and food on the same farm is banned under the FDA's current voluntary rules. He said the rules put sustainable farming methods at risk.

"This is a fast-moving train," Maravell said. "Nobody wants to stand in front of legislation that has the words 'food safety' in it."

end of excerpt.