FDA Food Safety Bill Raises Concerns as It Heads for Senate

Any minute now, the Senate will start discussing pending food safety legislation, FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, which has been delayed by health care reform and other hot issues since it was unanimously voted out of committee in late 2009.

The bill is expected to pass easily with bipartisan support, but one look at which groups have come down on each of side of this thing gives you a hint that there might be some controversy afoot.

Supporting the bill are major food industry, public health and consumer advocacy groups including the Grocery Manufacturers Association, the National Fisheries Institute, General Mills, Kraft Foods North America and the Consumers Union. Those who have raised the alarm about it include the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, the National Organic Coalition, the National Farmers Union, the Center for Rural Affairs, the Community Alliance With Family Farmers, the Defenders of Wildlife and Farm Aid.

As Food Safety News reports, "the small, sustainable agriculture community is still voicing serious concerns about certain provisions in the bill which, they contend, will stifle small-scale, local food production."

In fact, 87 groups, including a collection of food co-ops, the Center for Food Safety and Food Democracy Now!, have signed a letter to show their support of an amendment proposed by Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) to make small, local processing facilities exempt from the bill's hazard analysis and risk-based preventative controls and traceability requirements.

"Farmers and processors who sell directly to consumers and end users have a direct relationship with their customers that ensures quality, safety, transparency and accountability," the letter reads. "In addition, small-scale food producers are already regulated by local and state authorities, and the potential risk their products pose is inherently limited by their size. For these farmers and processors, new federal requirements are unnecessary and would simply harm both the food producers and their consumers."

Not all who want to see the bill amended are pushing for such an exemption, however. The Make Our Food Safe Coalition, which includes the Pew Charitable Trusts, Consumers Union, the Center for Science of Public Interest and the Grocery Manufacturers of America, among others, is opposed to federal exemptions. They'd prefer to see "scale-appropriate regulations," said Sandra Eskin, director of the food safety campaign with The Pew Charitable Trusts.

The good news is that, according to Eskin, the FDA has indicated that it is aware of the concerns voiced by those advocating for small and sustainable agriculture.

"It will not be one size fits all," FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg told a produce industry group last fall. "They will be scaled for risk, and they will reflect the needs and concerns of the community."

Good intentions seem to be there, but the question remains whether those intentions can translate into action that will really take small farmers' needs into account.

The NSAC isn't leaving it to chance. The group is working with Senate staff to push for various changes that would shift focus onto those operations that present the greatest risk and put in place a progressive fee structure instead of a flat fee.

For more information on this topic, see:

• Library of Congress information about the bill and text of the bill
• Margaret A. Hamburg's statement on reforming the food safety system
• Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions' Executive Session on S. 510
• Concerns of North Carolina farmers about the bill
• The Cornucopia Institute's action alert about the bill
• LocalHarvest's forum about the bill

Photo: cliff1066™ via Flickr