Food Safety Alert -- Call Your Representative

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Forwarding the message.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

National Organic Coalition

 

www.NationalOrganicCoalition.org

 

 

Dear Neil,

 

Apologies if you have already received this from other sources.

PLEASE ACT ON THIS FOOD SAFETY LEGISLATION ALERT FROM THE NATIONAL SUSTAINABLE

AGRICULTURE COALITION, and from NOC TODAY

 

and STAY TUNED for more FOOD SAFETY LEGISLATION NEWS IN THE COMING DAYS!

 

THANKS!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ACTION ALERT!!

 

 

 

                  

July 28, 2009 

       

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PLEASE

CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE!

 

 

 

URGE THEM TO

SUPPORT THE

 

 

 

KAPTUR-FARR FOOD

SAFETY PROPOSAL

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is no question: our food system needs to be safer.  But Congress is

currently debating food

safety legislation (Food Safety Enhancement Act - H.R. 2749) that could

hinder beginning, sustainable, and organic farmers' access to markets, require

expensive fees, and lead to the dismantling of important conservation practices

and wildlife habitat. 

 

 

 

HR 2749 is still scheduled to go to the floor of the House on Wednesday

July 29 under a suspension vote, which means limited debate and no

amendments, but a requirement for a two-thirds majority for passage.  With

negotiations still underway this evening, however, it

seems reasonably likely that a vote could be pushed to Thursday. 

     

 

 

 

Representatives Marcy Kaptur

(OH-9), Sam Farr (CA-17), Maurice Hinchey (NY-22), Jesse Jackson Jr. (IL-2),

Peter Welch (VT-at large), Chellie Pingree (ME-1) and Earl Blumenauer (OR-3)

last

week submitted a letter

to the House

Energy

and Commerce Committee with specific proposed changes to HR 2749 that

addresses many of the concerns raised by the sustainable and

organic agriculture community.      

 

 

 

At the same time, the House

Agriculture Committee majority today concluded negotiations with the sponsors

of HR 2749 that secured one of the changes proposed in the Kaptur-Farr et al

request - namely, a greater role for USDA in all the farm-related portions of

the bill.  That was helpful as far as it

went, but it did not directly address other critical concerns.

 

 

 

 

It is important that you call your Representative by tomorrow, Wednesday midday,

and ask them to join the effort to protect small and mid-sized family farmers,

the environment, and consumer choice by supporting the provisions in the

Kaptur-Farr proposal to HR 2749.  Please

see the background section below for more information

 

 

 

 

PLEASE CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE IMMEDIATELY!

 

 

 

It's easy to call. Please

call or fax your Representative's office and ask to speak with the aide that

works on agriculture.  If you don't know

your Representative's name, please click here http://www.house.gov/ and enter

your zip code in the top left-hand corner of the screen. Then call

the Capitol Switchboard and ask to be directly connected to your

Representative's office: 202-224-3121. 

 

 

 

The message is simple. " I

am a constituent of Representative___________ and I am calling to ask him/her

to support the Kaptur-Farr proposal to HR 2749, the Food Safety Enhancement Act

of 2009.  I am also asking him/her to

vote against HR 2749 unless the proposals included in the Kaptur-Farr letter

are included in the final bill. "   

 

 

 

Background

 

 

 

On June 17, the House Energy and

Commerce Committee approved the Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009.  While the

bill did incorporate some important

changes proposed by the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition and National

Organic Coalition, HR 2749 retains a flat $500 registration fee per facility,

thus failing to incorporate a scaled fee system.  This means that a small

processor (even farmers

doing on-farm value-added processing if selling mostly wholesale) would pay the

same annual fee as a facility run by Tyson, ADM, or any other large food

manufacturer.  

 

 

 

The bill also requires

farms to do extensive and expensive electronic tracing even if they only sell

their own unprocessed products in the wholesale market. In addition, the bill

does not specify the positive role that conservation practices can play to

address food safety concerns, and also fails to provide guidance so that new

food safety standards are harmonized with those specified in the Organic Foods

Production Act.     

 

 

 

As of Monday July 27, the House

Agriculture Committee members have concluded their negotiations with the Energy

and Commerce Committee that resulted in some positive changes to the Manager's

Amendment--including increased coordination between USDA and FDA and an

exemption for grain and hay farmers from full-scale electronic traceability

requirements--these still do no substantively address the concerns of the

sustainable and organic agriculture communities. 

 

 

 

The bill is scheduled to go to the

floor of the House on Wednesday, July 29. 

We are asking the Energy and Commerce Committee to include the

provisions outlined in the Kaptur-Farr proposal that:

 

 

 

Directs the FDA to ensure new produce standards

focus on the highest-risk problems in the fresh produce sector;

Protects wildlife and biodiversity by emphasizing

animals of significant risk as FDA develops produce standards;

Expands the direct marketing exemption so that

farmers selling directly to school cafeterias and other institutions or whose

farm identity is preserved on products all the way to the consumer, are not

required to establish an expensive tracing system;

Ensures that new food safety regulations are

consistent and coordinated with the federal organic standard administered by

the USDA National Organic Program (NOP) which already has traceability and

other measures that support food safety;

Establishes a sliding scale for facility

registration for farms that qualify as 'facilities' based on their on-farm

processing activities so that small and mid-sized family farmers are not forced

to pay the same fee as multinational companies.

Requires farmers to maintain paper records of

farm sales receipts to the first buyer of the product rather than electronic

records of all sales through the entire food supply chain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

110 Maryland Avenue NE, Suite 209 | Washington, D.C. D.C. 20002 US

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Contact Information

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Liana

Hoodes

 

        National Organic

Action Plan

 

        National

Organic Coalition

3540

Route 52

 

Pine Bush, NY  12566

 

Phone and Fax:  845-744-2304

 

www.NationalOrganicCoalition.org

 

Liana

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~