The Food Safety Modernization Act

Happy New Year! I suspect I’m not the only one who has resolved this year to avoid being sucked into my email for hours a day. This is much easier said than done, of course, and as usual, after reading an email this morning, I found myself perusing the internet clicking here and clicking there, going from one interesting and maddening topic to the next, all the while straying farther off course. A message from a friend who is passionate about this or that, or from an organization that sends monthly (or the dreaded weekly) updates on the sorry state of affairs of the world can really be a downer over your morning coffee. Some days, I wonder if the headache and tension in my shoulders is worth clicking on the links to learn more, all the while questioning how I could possibly have been surfing the internet since 8 am and why I now find myself on a website I’ve never even heard of before.

This morning it was an email about the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA/H.R. 2751/formerly S.510) signed on January 4, 2011 by President Obama which included the amendment introduced by Senators Jon Tester and Kay Hagan to protect family-scale producers. The amendment exempts small local farmers who do less than $500,000 a year in business and sell more than half of their goods to individual consumers, or restaurants and retail food establishments within a 275 mile radius or within the same state, from extensive and expensive regulations required for large agribusiness operations. The FSMA is meant to protect the nation’s food supply in a number of ways including increased inspections and compliance for domestic and imported foods, improved record keeping for food growers and producers, enhanced detection and prevention of foodborne illness and ordering, rather than suggesting, recalls of tainted food.

I found that the FSMA, as with most anything involving regulation, has not been without its fair share of controversy, heated debate and opponents. While it’s a good idea to exempt small farmers who often struggle to make a living competing in a market flooded with inexpensive and poor quality foods, many bring up that there is the issue of public safety to contend with. Many of my family members, friends and I love to support local farmers by shopping at farmers’ markets and farm stores. The little I know about canning and food preservation has certainly made me realize that there is a danger of foodborne illness should food not be processed properly. While we’d all like to believe that our small farmers know what they’re doing, what’s keeping someone who doesn’t from deciding he or she is going to jar up some tomato sauce and sell it at the local Thursday market? Do we trust the way our local farmers are growing, harvesting and processing our food or do we think that Uncle Sam should keep a watchful eye? While the Tester-Hagan Amendment exempts small local food producers from certain new federal regulations, they will have to continue to comply with state and local health regulations, as well as requirements deemed necessary by the individual markets they participate in. This should put many at ease as local regulators are much more likely to be involved and aware of what goes on under their watch. The frequency that production facilities are inspected by federal agencies has been increased as a result of this bill, with high-risk food production facilities to be inspected every three years and low-risk facilities to be visited within seven years of the law's passing. (Huffington Post) This still doesn’t sound very often to me.

It’s important to educate ourselves and know where our products are coming from. One of the great things about purchasing directly from producers is that we get to meet them, ask questions about their growing and production methods, and even see where it all happens if we’d like to take a tour. It’s a matter of trust, when you come right down to it. Do you think you local food producers are using illegal additives and chemicals in the jams and jellies you’re purchasing from them or do you think practices by large food companies forced the issue to be addressed in the FSMA? Do you trust your neighbors to produce high quality healthy and safe products for your family? Do you trust the government with all of its special interest group friends, the USDA and the FDA which tend to favor Agribusiness over small farmers and you and me, to oversee the foods on the grocery shelves? While it’s possible I missed the story, I don’t recall hearing about my neighbor Fannie’s eggs or fresh cheese from the local dairy farm on the evening news, but I do recall nationwide salmonella outbreaks due to lacking FDA inspections of massive factory farming operations. Personally, I’ll take my chances.

As far as the FSMA goes, it’s a step in the right direction for protecting the little guy. Kudos to Senators Tester and Hagan for introducing a successful Amendment, and to all those voting to pass the FSMA with its inclusion. This is confirmation that we have a right to choose local foods so that we can continue to have a local food supply brought to us by small family farms that are not burdened by over regulation or forced to compete with giant corporations. Without our farmers, unless we decide to grow our own fruits and vegetables, nuts and berries, and raise a few animals for dairy and eggs, we will be forced to rely on imports and big businesses that don’t allow us a glimpse behind the scenes where they grow, and sadly manufacture, goods we cannot live without. That big business relies on a finite supply of fuel to move those goods around the country and around the world, by the way, but that’s another story. I’ll probably find an email about it in tomorrow’s inbox, and knowing me, I won’t be able to resist the urge to click just a few links.